Technician control system

ABSTRACT

Technician control, in which a control system is configured to control scheduling and dispatch operations for work orders being handled by technicians. Multiple technician devices are each associated with one or more technicians, are configured to communicate, over a network, with the control system, and also are configured to provide output in response to communications that are received from the control system and that are related to the scheduling and dispatch operations performed by the control system. A set of scheduling configuration options may be pre-defined and user input weighting at least one of the scheduling configuration options relative to other of the scheduling configuration options may be received. A scheduling application used by the control system to perform scheduling operations may be configured based on configuration data that reflects the weighting and scheduling operations may be performed using the configured scheduling application.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation (and claims the benefit of priorityunder 35 USC 120) of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/490,730, filedJun. 24, 2009, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/481,046, filed Jun. 9, 2009, now allowed. Bothof these prior applications are incorporated herein by reference intheir entirety.

FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to control systems.

BACKGROUND

Scheduling and dispatch services may help to manage a mobile technicianworkforce. A dispatch system may be used for managing mobile techniciansworking with home security, plumbing, taxi services, courier, emergency,pest control, natural gas, cable, electrical services,telecommunications, satellite television, HVAC (heating, ventilating,and air conditioning), appliance repair, other utility services, andother types of installation, repair, or other services.

SUMMARY

In one aspect, a technician control system includes a control systemconfigured to control scheduling and dispatch operations for work ordersbeing handled by technicians associated with a client, at least oneelectronic data store configured to store data associated with theclient and multiple technician devices that are each associated with oneor more technicians, configured to communicate, over a network, with thecontrol system, and configured to provide output in response tocommunications that are received from the control system and that arerelated to the scheduling and dispatch operations performed by thecontrol system. The control system includes at least one processorconfigured to perform operations that include aggregating a set ofpre-defined scheduling configuration options. At least one schedulingconfiguration option represents a scheduling goal and impacts multipleparameters of a scheduling application when selected. The operationsalso include receiving, from the client, user input weighting at leastone of the scheduling configuration options relative to other of thescheduling configuration options and storing, in the at least oneelectronic data store and in association with the client, configurationdata that reflects the weighting of at least one of the schedulingconfiguration options relative to other of the scheduling configurationoptions. The operations further include, based on the configuration datathat reflects the weighting of at least one of the schedulingconfiguration options relative to other of the scheduling configurationoptions, configuring, for the client, a scheduling application used bythe control system to perform scheduling operations for the client. Theconfiguration includes modification of more parameters of the schedulingapplication than scheduling configuration options related to the userinput. In addition, the operations include performing schedulingoperations for the client using the configured scheduling application.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. Forexample, the operations may include receiving user input selecting asubset of the scheduling configuration options. The selected subset mayrepresent scheduling goals on which the user would like to focus inperforming scheduling operations. The operations also may includeidentifying scheduling rules that relate to the selected subset of thescheduling configuration options, tailoring the identified schedulingrules based on the selected subset of the scheduling configurationoptions, and configuring, for the client, the scheduling application touse the tailored scheduling rules.

In some implementations, the operations may include receiving user inputsetting weighting parameters for one or more of the schedulingconfiguration options. In these implementations, the operations mayinclude mapping the weighting parameters for the one or more of thescheduling configuration options to a set of rules and configurationvariables and adapting, in accordance with the weighting parameters, thescheduling application based on the set of rules and configurationvariables. The operations also may include receiving, from a clientsystem associated with the client, data defining unscheduled work ordersassociated with the client and assigning, using the configuredscheduling application, the unscheduled work orders to one or more ofthe technicians associated with the client.

In some examples, the operations may include identifying technicianssupervised by a particular supervisor that uses a particular device,determining progress of scheduled work orders for each of the identifiedtechnicians, and enabling the supervisor to view data reflecting thedetermined progress of scheduled work orders. In these examples, theoperations may include monitoring progress of the scheduled work ordersfor each of the identified technicians and, based on the monitoring,detecting whether a schedule or quality issue occurs in the scheduledwork orders for each of the identified technicians. In response todetecting that a schedule or quality issue has occurred in at least oneof the scheduled work orders being handled by at least one of theidentified technicians, a message may be sent to the particular deviceused by the particular supervisor to alert the supervisor of thedetected issue and the supervisor may be assisted in taking action tocorrect the detected issue.

In addition, the operations may include comparing progress of aparticular work order being handled by a particular technician to anexpected progress for the particular work order and, based on thecomparison, determining whether the progress of the particular workorder being handled by the particular technician is behind the expectedprogress by more than a threshold amount. The operations also mayinclude detecting an issue in response to a determination that theprogress of the particular work order being handled by the particulartechnician is behind the expected progress by more than the thresholdamount and detecting that an issue does not exist in response to adetermination that the progress of the particular work order beinghandled by the particular technician is not behind the expected progressby more than the threshold amount.

In some examples, the operations further may include sending, to theparticular device used by the particular supervisor, a message to alertthe supervisor of the detected issue comprises sending a message thatindicates that the particular technician is behind schedule inperforming the particular work order, that provides an indication of theprogress of the particular work order being handled by the particulartechnician, and that provides an indication of the expected progress. Inthese examples, the operations may include enabling the supervisor torespond to the message by communicating with the particular technician,enabling the supervisor to respond to the message by receivingdirections to attend the particular work order, and enabling thesupervisor to respond to the message by sending another technician toassist the particular technician with the particular work order.

The operations may include determining an expected amount of timeremaining for a particular technician to complete a particular workorder being handled by the particular technician, determining a traveltime between a location of the particular work order and a location of anext work order scheduled for completion by the particular technician,and identifying a scheduled start time of the next work order scheduledfor completion by the particular technician. The operations also mayinclude analyzing the expected amount of time remaining for theparticular technician to complete the particular work order and thedetermined travel time with respect to the scheduled start time of thenext work order and, based on the analysis, determining whether theparticular technician is likely to miss the scheduled start time of thenext work order. The operations further may include detecting an issuein response to a determination that the particular technician is likelyto miss the scheduled start time of the next work order and detectingthat an issue does not exist in response to a determination that theparticular technician is not likely to miss the scheduled start time ofthe next work order.

In some implementations, the operations may include sending, to theparticular device used by the particular supervisor, a message to alertthe supervisor of the detected issue comprises sending a message thatindicates that the particular technician is likely to miss the scheduledstart time of the next work order, that provides an indication of theexpected amount of time remaining for the particular technician tocomplete the particular work order, that provides an indication of thedetermined travel time, and that provides an indication of the scheduledstart time of the next work order. In these implementations, theoperations may include enabling the supervisor to respond to the messageby rescheduling the next work order for the particular technician andenabling the supervisor to respond to the message by communicating witha customer corresponding to the next work order.

In some examples, the control system may be configured to controlscheduling and dispatch operations for multiple, different clients, theat least one electronic data store may be configured to maintainsegregated data areas for each of the multiple, different clients,control access to the segregated areas using admission rights, and storeconfiguration data for each of the multiple, different clients; and thecontrol system may be further configured to control scheduling anddispatch operations for each of the multiple, different clients in aconfigured manner that leverages the stored configuration data for eachof the multiple, different clients. In these examples, the operationsmay include establishing a particular client and defining, in the atleast one electronic data store, a segregated data area for theparticular client. The segregated data area may be separate from otherdata areas associated with other clients of the control system. Theoperations also may include setting admission rights and privileges forthe particular client to enable users associated with the particularclient to access the segregated data area, enabling the particularclient to configure standard, pre-defined assets and applications of thecontrol system, and storing configuration data for the particular clientthat reflects configurations to the standard, pre-defined assets andapplications made by the particular client.

In these examples, the operations may include receiving a request from atechnician device, identifying, from among the multiple, differentclients, a client associated with the technician device, comparingadmission rights of the technician device to admission rights of theidentified client, and, based on the comparison, determining whether thetechnician device is authorized to perform the request. In response to adetermination that the technician device is not authorized to performthe request, the request may be denied. In response to a determinationthat the technician device is authorized to perform the request, therequest may be handled using standard, pre-defined assets andapplications based on configurations defined by the identified clientand data related to the request may be stored in a segregated data areaassociated with the identified client.

In another aspect, a computer-implemented method includes aggregating,at a control system, a pre-defined set of scheduling configurationoptions. At least one scheduling configuration option represents ascheduling goal and impacts multiple parameters of a schedulingapplication when selected. The method also includes receiving, from aclient, user input weighting at least one of the schedulingconfiguration options relative to other of the scheduling configurationoptions and storing, in at least one electronic data store of thecontrol system and in association with the client, configuration datathat reflects the weighting of at least one of the schedulingconfiguration options relative to other of the scheduling configurationoptions. The method further includes, based on the configuration datathat reflects the weighting of at least one of the schedulingconfiguration options relative to other of the scheduling configurationoptions, configuring, for the client using at least one processor of thecontrol system, a scheduling application used by the control system toperform scheduling operations for the client. The configuration includesmodification of more parameters of the scheduling application thanscheduling configuration options related to the user input. In addition,the method includes performing, using at least one processor of thecontrol system, scheduling operations for the client using theconfigured scheduling application.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. Forexample, the method may include receiving user input selecting a subsetof the scheduling configuration options, the selected subsetrepresenting scheduling goals on which the user would like to focus inperforming scheduling operations. The method also may includeidentifying scheduling rules that relate to the selected subset of thescheduling configuration options, tailoring the identified schedulingrules based on the selected subset of the scheduling configurationoptions, and configuring, for the client, the scheduling application touse the tailored scheduling rules.

In some examples, the method may include receiving user input settingweightings parameters for one or more of the scheduling configurationoptions. In these examples, the method may include mapping the weightingparameters for the one or more of the scheduling configuration optionsto a set of rules and configuration variables and adapting, inaccordance with the weighting parameters, the scheduling applicationbased on the set of rules and configuration variables. The method alsomay include receiving, from a client system associated with the client,data defining unscheduled work orders associated with the client andassigning, using the configured scheduling application, the unscheduledwork orders to one or more of technicians associated with the client.

In some implementations, the method may include identifying technicianssupervised by a particular supervisor that uses a particular device,determining progress of scheduled work orders for each of the identifiedtechnicians, and enabling the supervisor to view data reflecting thedetermined progress of scheduled work orders. In these implementations,the method may include monitoring progress of the scheduled work ordersfor each of the identified technicians and, based on the monitoring,detecting whether a schedule or quality issue occurs in the scheduledwork orders for each of the identified technicians. In response todetecting that a schedule or quality issue has occurred in at least oneof the scheduled work orders being handled by at least one of theidentified technicians, a message may be sent to the particular deviceused by the particular supervisor to alert the supervisor of thedetected issue, and the supervisor may be assisted in taking action tocorrect the detected issue.

In these implementations, the method may include comparing progress of aparticular work order being handled by a particular technician to anexpected progress for the particular work order and, based on thecomparison, determining whether the progress of the particular workorder being handled by the particular technician is behind the expectedprogress by more than a threshold amount. The method also may includedetecting an issue in response to a determination that the progress ofthe particular work order being handled by the particular technician isbehind the expected progress by more than the threshold amount anddetecting that an issue does not exist in response to a determinationthat the progress of the particular work order being handled by theparticular technician is not behind the expected progress by more thanthe threshold amount. The method further may include sending a messagethat indicates that the particular technician is behind schedule inperforming the particular work order, that provides an indication of theprogress of the particular work order being handled by the particulartechnician, and that provides an indication of the expected progress. Inaddition, the method may include enabling the supervisor to respond tothe message by communicating with the particular technician, enablingthe supervisor to respond to the message by receiving directions toattend the particular work order, and enabling the supervisor to respondto the message by sending another technician to assist the particulartechnician with the particular work order.

In these implementations, the method may include determining an expectedamount of time remaining for a particular technician to complete aparticular work order being handled by the particular technician,determining a travel time between a location of the particular workorder and a location of a next work order scheduled for completion bythe particular technician, and identifying a scheduled start time of thenext work order scheduled for completion by the particular technician.The method also may include analyzing the expected amount of timeremaining for the particular technician to complete the particular workorder and the determined travel time with respect to the scheduled starttime of the next work order and, based on the analysis, determiningwhether the particular technician is likely to miss the scheduled starttime of the next work order. The method further may include detecting anissue in response to a determination that the particular technician islikely to miss the scheduled start time of the next work order anddetecting that an issue does not exist in response to a determinationthat the particular technician is not likely to miss the scheduled starttime of the next work order. In addition, the method may include sendinga message that indicates that the particular technician is likely tomiss the scheduled start time of the next work order, that provides anindication of the expected amount of time remaining for the particulartechnician to complete the particular work order, that provides anindication of the determined travel time, and that provides anindication of the scheduled start time of the next work order. Themethod further may include enabling the supervisor to respond to themessage by rescheduling the next work order for the particulartechnician and enabling the supervisor to respond to the message bycommunicating with a customer corresponding to the next work order.

In some examples, the method may include establishing a particularclient and defining, in the at least one electronic data store, asegregated data area for the particular client. The segregated data areamay be separate from other data areas associated with other clients ofthe control system. In these examples, the method may include settingadmission rights and privileges for the particular client to enableusers associated with the particular client to access the segregateddata area, enabling the particular client to configure standard,pre-defined assets and applications of the control system, and storingconfiguration data for the particular client that reflectsconfigurations to the standard, pre-defined assets and applications madeby the particular client.

In these examples, the method may include receiving a request from atechnician device, identifying, from among multiple, different clients,a client associated with the technician device, comparing admissionrights of the technician device to admission rights of the identifiedclient, and, based on the comparison, determining whether the techniciandevice is authorized to perform the request. In response to adetermination that the technician device is not authorized to performthe request, the request may be denied. In response to a determinationthat the technician device is authorized to perform the request, therequest may be handled using standard, pre-defined assets andapplications based on configurations defined by the identified clientand data related to the request may be stored in a segregated data areaassociated with the identified client.

In yet another aspect, at least one computer-readable storage medium isencoded with executable instructions that, when executed by at least oneprocessor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations thatinclude aggregating, at a control system, a pre-defined set ofscheduling configuration options. At least one scheduling configurationoption represents a scheduling goal and impacts multiple parameters of ascheduling application when selected. The operations also includesreceiving, from a client, user input weighting at least one of thescheduling configuration options relative to other of the schedulingconfiguration options and storing, in at least one electronic data storeof the control system and in association with the client, configurationdata that reflects the weighting of at least one of the schedulingconfiguration options relative to other of the scheduling configurationoptions. The operations further includes, based on the configurationdata that reflects the weighting of at least one of the schedulingconfiguration options relative to other of the scheduling configurationoptions, configuring, for the client using at least one processor of thecontrol system, a scheduling application used by the control system toperform scheduling operations for the client. The configuration includesmodification of more parameters of the scheduling application thanscheduling configuration options related to the user input. In addition,the operations include performing, using at least one processor of thecontrol system, scheduling operations for the client using theconfigured scheduling application.

In another aspect, a technician control system includes a control systemconfigured to control processing of work orders being handled bytechnicians in each of multiple, different industries, at least oneelectronic data store configured to store work order data and work flowdata for each of the multiple, different industries, and multipletechnician devices that are each associated with one or moretechnicians, configured to communicate, over a network, with the controlsystem, and configured to provide output in response to communicationsthat are received from the control system and that are related to theprocessing of work orders. The control system includes at least oneprocessor configured to perform operations that include defining, in theat least one electronic data store, work order data for work orderscorresponding to each of the multiple, different industries based onuser input and defining, in the at least one electronic data store, workflow data for the work orders corresponding to each of the multiple,different industries based on user input. The operations also includeconfiguring the technician control system to leverage the defined workorder data and the defined work flow data in performing work orderprocessing for technicians in the multiple, different industries, andenabling processing of work orders for technicians in the multiple,different industries using the defined work order data and the definedwork flow data.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. Forexample, the operations may include establishing a first client thatmanages technicians that operate in a first industry and establishing asecond client that manages technicians that operate in a second industrythat is different than the first industry, the second client beingdifferent than the first client. In this example, the operations alsomay include determining the first industry associated with the firstclient and determining the second industry associated with the secondclient. The operations further may include configuring the techniciancontrol system to leverage first pre-defined work order and work flowdata associated with the first industry for technicians managed by thefirst client and configuring the technician control system to leveragesecond pre-defined work order and work flow data associated with thesecond industry for technicians managed by the second client. The firstpre-defined work order and work flow data may have been defined in thetechnician control system prior to establishing the first client and thesecond pre-defined work order and work flow data may have been definedin the technician control system prior to establishing the second clientand may be different than the first pre-defined work order and work flowdata.

The operations may include defining, prior to establishing the firstclient and in the at least one electronic data store, the firstpre-defined work order and work flow data based on input received froman entity operating the technician control system. The entity operatingthe technician control system may be different than the first client.The operations also may include defining, prior to establishing thesecond client and in the at least one electronic data store, the secondpre-defined work order and work flow data based on input received fromthe entity operating the technician control system. The entity operatingthe technician control system also may be different than the secondclient.

In some implementations, the operations may include receiving a requestassociated with a work order from a technician device and accessing,from the at least one electronic data store, pre-defined work order dataand work flow data related to handling the work order based on anindustry associated with the technician device. In theseimplementations, the operations may include controlling user interfacedisplay on the technician device and data collection on the techniciandevice related to the work order based on the accessed work order dataand controlling processing flow related to handling the work order onthe technician device based on the accessed work flow data.

Further, the operations may include determining, from among themultiple, different industries, the industry associated with thetechnician device and accessing, from the at least one electronic datastore, pre-defined work order data and work flow data for the determinedindustry. In addition, the operations may include identifying, fromamong multiple clients, a client associated with the technician deviceand accessing, from the at least one electronic data store, pre-definedwork order data and work flow data for which the technician controlsystem has been configured to leverage for the identified client.

In some examples, the operations may include establishing a first clientthat manages technicians that operate in a first industry andestablishing a second client that manages technicians that operate inthe first industry. The second client may be different than the firstclient. In these example, the operations also may include determiningthe first industry associated with the first client and determining thefirst industry associated with the second client. The operations furthermay include configuring the technician control system to leverage firstpre-defined work order and work flow data associated with the firstindustry for technicians managed by the first client and configuring thetechnician control system to leverage the first pre-defined work orderand work flow data associated with the first industry for techniciansmanaged by the second client. The first pre-defined work order and workflow data may have been defined in the technician control system priorto establishing the first client and the first pre-defined work orderand work flow data may have been defined in the technician controlsystem prior to establishing the second client.

In some implementations, the operations may include establishing a firstclient that manages technicians that operate in a first industry andtechnicians that operate in a second industry that is different than thefirst industry and determining the first industry associated with thefirst client and the second industry associated with the first client.In these implementations, the operations may include configuring thetechnician control system to leverage first pre-defined work order andwork flow data associated with the first industry for the techniciansmanaged by the first client that operate in the first industry and toleverage second pre-defined work order and work flow data associatedwith the second industry for the technicians managed by the first clientthat operate in the second industry. The first pre-defined work orderand work flow data may be different than the second pre-defined workorder and work flow data and both the first pre-defined work order andwork flow data and the second pre-defined work order and work flow datamay have been defined in the technician control system prior toestablishing the first client.

Further, the operations may include controlling user interface displayand data collection for technician devices using the defined work orderdata and controlling work flow processing for the technician devicesusing the defined work flow data. The operations also may includesending the defined work order data and the defined work flow data totechnician devices to enable the technician devices to process workorders.

In another aspect, a computer-implemented method includes defining, inat least one electronic data store of a technician control system, workorder data for work orders corresponding to each of multiple, differentindustries based on user input and defining, in the at least oneelectronic data store of the technician control system, work flow datafor the work orders corresponding to each of the multiple, differentindustries based on user input. The method also includes configuring thetechnician control system to leverage the defined work order data andthe defined work flow data in performing work order processing fortechnicians in the multiple, different industries and enablingprocessing of work orders for technicians in the multiple, differentindustries using the defined work order data and the defined work flowdata.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. Forexample, the method may include establishing a first client that managestechnicians that operate in a first industry and establishing a secondclient that manages technicians that operate in a second industry thatis different than the first industry, the second client being differentthan the first client. In this example, the method also may includedetermining the first industry associated with the first client anddetermining the second industry associated with the second client. Themethod further may include configuring the technician control system toleverage first pre-defined work order and work flow data associated withthe first industry for technicians managed by the first client andconfiguring the technician control system to leverage second pre-definedwork order and work flow data associated with the second industry fortechnicians managed by the second client. The first pre-defined workorder and work flow data may have been defined in the technician controlsystem prior to establishing the first client and the second pre-definedwork order and work flow data may have been defined in the techniciancontrol system prior to establishing the second client and may bedifferent than the first pre-defined work order and work flow data.

The method may include defining, prior to establishing the first clientand in the at least one electronic data store, the first pre-definedwork order and work flow data based on input received from an entityoperating the technician control system. The entity operating thetechnician control system may be different than the first client. Themethod also may include defining, prior to establishing the secondclient and in the at least one electronic data store, the secondpre-defined work order and work flow data based on input received fromthe entity operating the technician control system. The entity operatingthe technician control system may be different than the second client.

In some implementations, the method may include receiving a requestassociated with a work order from a technician device and accessing,from the at least one electronic data store, pre-defined work order dataand work flow data related to handling the work order based on anindustry associated with the technician device. In theseimplementations, the method may include controlling user interfacedisplay on the technician device and data collection on the techniciandevice related to the work order based on the accessed work order dataand controlling processing flow related to handling the work order onthe technician device based on the accessed work flow data.

Further, the method may include determining, from among the multiple,different industries, the industry associated with the technician deviceand accessing, from the at least one electronic data store, pre-definedwork order data and work flow data for the determined industry. Inaddition, the method may include identifying, from among multipleclients, a client associated with the technician device and accessing,from the at least one electronic data store, pre-defined work order dataand work flow data for which the technician control system has beenconfigured to leverage for the identified client.

In some examples, the method may include establishing a first clientthat manages technicians that operate in a first industry andestablishing a second client that manages technicians that operate inthe first industry, the second client being different than the firstclient. In these example, the method also may include determining thefirst industry associated with the first client and determining thefirst industry associated with the second client. The method further mayinclude configuring the technician control system to leverage firstpre-defined work order and work flow data associated with the firstindustry for technicians managed by the first client and configuring thetechnician control system to leverage the first pre-defined work orderand work flow data associated with the first industry for techniciansmanaged by the second client. The first pre-defined work order and workflow data may have been defined in the technician control system priorto establishing the first client and the first pre-defined work orderand work flow data may have been defined in the technician controlsystem prior to establishing the second client.

In some implementations, the method may include establishing a firstclient that manages technicians that operate in a first industry andtechnicians that operate in a second industry that is different than thefirst industry and determining the first industry associated with thefirst client and the second industry associated with the first client.In these implementations, the method may include configuring thetechnician control system to leverage first pre-defined work order andwork flow data associated with the first industry for the techniciansmanaged by the first client that operate in the first industry and toleverage second pre-defined work order and work flow data associatedwith the second industry for the technicians managed by the first clientthat operate in the second industry. The first pre-defined work orderand work flow data may be different than the second pre-defined workorder and work flow data and both the first pre-defined work order andwork flow data and the second pre-defined work order and work flow datamay have been defined in the technician control system prior toestablishing the first client. Further, the method may includecontrolling user interface display and data collection for techniciandevices using the defined work order data and controlling work flowprocessing for the technician devices using the defined work flow data.

In yet another aspect, at least one computer-readable storage medium isencoded with executable instructions that, when executed by at least oneprocessor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations. Theoperations include defining, in at least one electronic data store of atechnician control system, work order data for work orders correspondingto each of multiple, different industries based on user input anddefining, in the at least one electronic data store of the techniciancontrol system, work flow data for the work orders corresponding to eachof the multiple, different industries based on user input. Theoperations also include configuring the technician control system toleverage the defined work order data and the defined work flow data inperforming work order processing for technicians in the multiple,different industries and enabling processing of work orders fortechnicians in the multiple, different industries using the defined workorder data and the defined work flow data.

Implementations of any of the techniques described throughout thedisclosure may include a method or process, a system, or instructionsstored on a computer-readable storage device. The details of particularimplementations are set forth in the accompanying drawings anddescription below. Other features will be apparent from the followingdescription, including the drawings, and the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a contextual diagram of an exemplary technician controlsystem.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary control system.

FIGS. 3, 5, 7, 9, 16, 17, 19, 20, and 21 are flowcharts of exemplaryprocesses.

FIG. 4 illustrates example scheduling configuration options.

FIGS. 6A and 8 are example interfaces for selecting and weightingscheduling configuration options.

FIGS. 6B to 6K are example interfaces for tailoring scheduling rules.

FIG. 10 illustrates example alert trigger rules.

FIGS. 11 to 14 illustrate example supervisor alert messages.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example system for controlling scheduling anddispatch operations for multiple, different clients.

FIG. 18 is a diagram of an example system with pre-integrated work orderand work flow data.

FIG. 22 is a diagram of an example work flow.

FIG. 23 illustrates components of an exemplary computer processingsystem.

Like reference numbers represent corresponding parts throughout.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A technician control system enables multiple clients to leverageintegrated technician control applications and configure the integratedtechnician control applications to client specifications. For instance,the technician control system may include a scheduling application thatprioritizes schedules and use of resources based on client configurationsettings. To establish configured settings, a client may provide userinput weighting a set of pre-defined scheduling configuration options. Ascheduling configuration option may represent a scheduling goal thatimpacts multiple parameters of the scheduling application. Thetechnician control system automatically configures the schedulingapplication by modifying parameters of the scheduling application basedon the weighting of the pre-defined scheduling configuration optionsprovided by the client.

FIG. 1 is a contextual diagram of a technician control system 100. Thetechnician control system 100 includes several pre-integrated techniciancontrol solutions that may be leveraged by multiple clients. Forinstance, the technician control system 100 may include pre-integratedscheduling, dispatch, and mobility applications that multiple clientsmay leverage and configure to fit specific needs. Based on theintegration of a number of control solutions, the technician controlsystem 100 may enable an end-to-end workforce management (WFM) solutionprovided on a hosted/services basis (e.g., the technician control systemmay host WFM services and applications for multiple clients). Thetechnician control system 100 may include WFM applications forsophisticated scheduling, dispatch and productivity applications,wireless network access, mobile device, help desk, application hostingand maintenance on a “per-month per-technician” pricing structure (e.g.,clients may be charged a particular rate per month, based on the numberof technicians who use the system).

The technician control system 100 provides a set of system applicationprogramming interfaces (API's) 110 for scheduling, dispatch, and otheraspects of managing a mobile technician workforce. The techniciancontrol system may automate some or all scheduling and dispatchprocesses, may help reduce human error, may increase consistency acrossmultiple manual schedulers, may improve schedule efficiency by usingautomated processes rather than manual scheduling, and may help minimizecost while maintaining customer service.

The technician control system 100 may be configured to controlscheduling and dispatch operations for multiple, different clients, andpossibly for clients related to different industries. The techniciancontrol system 100 includes an electronic data store which is configuredto maintain segregated data areas for each of the clients, to controlaccess to the segregated areas using admission rights, and to storeconfiguration data for each of the clients. Scheduling and dispatchoperations may be controlled for each of the clients in a configuredmanner that leverages the stored configuration data for each of theclients. Multiple field technicians 115 may be associated with (e.g.,work for) a particular client. Also, multiple dispatcher 120 andscheduler 125 users may control dispatching and scheduling operationsfor one or more clients leveraging the integrated scheduling anddispatch applications.

One or more schedulers 125 may use a scheduling application 130 todefine work schedules for some or all of the field technicians 115associated with a client. The scheduler 125 performs schedulingoperations for the client, using the scheduling application 130 toassign unscheduled work orders to one or more of the field technicians115 associated with the client. In some implementations, work orders arescheduled automatically by the scheduling application 130. The scheduler125 can review the generated schedule and make changes if desired.

Historical work orders may be monitored and future work orders may beforecasted to help plan the number and skills of technicians that may beneeded for a particular client. In some implementations, data definingunscheduled work orders associated with a client may be received from aclient system. In other implementations, data defining work orders maybe received from a call center component of the technician controlsystem 100 and/or from an online customer appointment reservationcomponent of the technician control system 100. Customers may makeappointments in advance or may schedule an appointment for same-dayservice.

Scheduling performed by the scheduling application 130 may be configuredfor each client. Each client may weigh each of a set of schedulingconfiguration options, where a scheduling configuration optionrepresents a high level scheduling goal (e.g., minimize overtime,minimize appointment window). Configuration data that reflects theclient weighting of scheduling configuration options may be stored in anelectronic data store and the scheduling application 130 may beconfigured based on the configuration data. For example, one or moreparameters, and/or configuration variables of the scheduling application130 may be modified for performing scheduling operations for the clientbased on the configuration data.

The scheduling application 130 prioritizes schedules and use ofresources based on client configuration settings. For example, aschedule may maximize billable hours and number of service calls whileavoiding overtime. Technicians may be matched to work orders based, forexample, on skills, experience, licensure, parts on hand, distance tothe work site, job priority, and/or union status. The schedulingapplication 130 may, for example, use street-level routing to determineoptimal routes for field technicians 115 in order to minimize drive timeand fuel consumption. The scheduling application 130 may use zoning,where a technician is limited to performing work orders within a definedgeographic area. A schedule may be prepared for field technicians 115 ona daily basis, or on some other frequency.

One or more dispatchers 120 may use a dispatch application 140 to conveyschedule change information to the field technicians 115 and to managealerts and reminders related to each of the scheduled appointments. Thedispatcher 120 views the work orders happening during the current day,and manages changes that may occur due to schedule deviations (e.g.,technician illness, technician stuck in traffic). The dispatcher 120 mayview a real-time status interface which provides a filterable view ofall field technicians 115 and work orders out in the field, such as in alist or displayed on a map. A GPS (Global Positioning Satellite)component of technician device 150 may pinpoint the location of a fieldtechnician 115.

The dispatch application 140 may be configured for each client based onstored configuration data. The dispatch application 140 may be used torespond to events that occur throughout the work day. For example, workorders may be assigned or reassigned to balance assignments (e.g.,either manually by the dispatcher 120 or automatically by the dispatchapplication 140). A work order may be reassigned if a field technician115 is delayed on a work order and may not arrive on time for the nextscheduled work order. Field technicians 115 may be assigned orreassigned to high-priority or emergency work orders. Field technicians115 may be manually or automatically rerouted based on dynamic trafficcondition information. A field technician 115 may be assigned to a workorder located in an adjacent zone, if the dispatcher 120 and/or thedispatching application 140 determine that the assigned field technician115 is the most optimal choice. In response to work order completion,parts inventory may be maintained and resupply of parts use for repairmay be initiated. The dispatcher 120 may communicate through voiceand/or electronic communication, in real-time or non real-time, withfield technicians 115, as needed.

A field technician 115 may use the technician device 150 to communicatewith the dispatcher 120 and/or other technicians (e.g., a supervisor).The technician device 150 includes a mobile infrastructure 160, whichenables the technician device 150 to communicate with a server mobileinfrastructure 165 over a network 170. The mobile infrastructure 160-165allows the field technicians 115 to work in an intermittently connectedenvironment (e.g., work either online of offline), enables the softwarerunning on the technician device 150 to be updated remotely, and managessecurity protocols and authentication for technician devices 115, thenetwork 170 and one or more server devices.

The network 170 may be one or more public or private, wireless and/orwired networks, such as the Internet or a WAN (wide area network). Thenetwork 170 may be an IP (Internet Protocol) based network, using, forexample, technologies such as UMTS (Universal Mobile TelecommunicationsSystem), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), GPRS (General PacketRadio Service), or EVDO (Evolution Data Optimized). The mobileinfrastructure 160 may be configured to detect and to switch to the mostefficient network based on a set of pre-configured rules.

The technician device 150 may be a handheld PC (personal computer),wireless handheld device, laptop, smart phone, desktop computer, orother device. The technician device 150 executes a device application180. The device application 180 may include various functionality. Forexample, the device application 180 may include functionality related towork orders, such as providing the ability to display a view of thecurrent day's completed and yet-to-be-completed work orders. Work ordersmay be displayed in a filtered list. Work orders may also be displayedin a map view, with map markers indicating locations of assigned workorders. Driving directions may be provided, informing the fieldtechnician 115 how to get from one work order location to the next workorder location.

A field technician 115 may select a particular work order to viewadditional details about the work order, such as details about thecustomer, involved field assets, and tasks to be performed related tothe work order. A work-order completion interface may be used forvalidation of work order details at the point of completion of a workorder. While in the field, a field technician 115 may be able to createa new work-order using the technician device 150. Information about thenew work order may be transmitted to the dispatch application 140 andthe new work order may be scheduled.

A document library feature may provide a field technician 115 with alibrary of online manuals that may be referenced when servicing workorders. For example, manuals for various equipment that the fieldtechnician 115 may use or service may be stored on the technician device150. As another example, the document library may include regulatorycompliance information, or information on access guidelines foraccessing equipment at a customer site The document library may beupdated as new versions of documents become available (e.g., updatedmanuals or manuals for new equipment). The device application 180 mayalso provide the field technician 115 with a knowledge base of troubleshooting job aids. The knowledge base may provide field access toelectronic trouble shooting documents describing how to debug variousequipment and assess problems. For example, a field technician 115 mayselect a document from a list of documents associated with a particularitem of equipment, or a field technician 115 may select a document froma list of documents displayed in a search results list. The documentlibrary information may be accessed from electronic storage on thetechnician device 150 or may be received over the network 170 fromanother electronic device (e.g., from the dispatch application 140, fromanother technician device, from a web server, etc.).

The device application 180 may provide timesheet functionality. Forexample, field technician 115 login, logout and status changes may becaptured to automate timesheet entry and completion. As another example,timesheets may accurately capture the duration and task break down of awork order. A timesheet application may review timestamps from eachstatus change (e.g., accepted, traveling-to-site, on-site, completed)and then present these timestamps to the field technician 115 forverification. A supervisor interface may be displayed on the deviceapplication 180, allowing a supervisor to view the field locations ofallocated field technicians 115, to change assignments of work orders,and to generally respond to schedule and quality issues. The techniciancontrol system 100 may include various administrative functions.Administrative functions may be provided by the scheduling application130, the dispatch application 140, or by one or more other integratedcomponents of the technician control system 100. For example, accountand user information for field technicians 115, schedulers 125, anddispatchers 120 may be managed and maintained. Work order types andconfiguration information may be managed. Document libraries and otherreference information may be updated. Other administrative features mayinclude device management, reporting, customer data management,maintaining information on equipment at customer locations, partsinventory control, historical service data access, and routing and GIS(geographic information system) updates (e.g., due to new roads or roadconstruction).

FIG. 2 illustrates a system 200 which includes a control system 205connected to one or more client systems 206 and one or more techniciandevices 207 over a network 209. The control system 205 includes an inputmodule 210, a data store 220, a rules engine 230, a processor 240, oneor more I/O (Input/Output) devices 250, and memory 260. The controlsystem 205 may communicate with a different client system 206 for eachclient serviced by the control system 205. Since each client may havemultiple field technicians, the control system 205 may communicate withmultiple technician devices 207 per client. The network 209 may be an IP(Internet Protocol) based network, using, for example, technologies suchas UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), CDMA (CodeDivision Multiple Access), GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), or EVDO(Evolution Data Optimized). Each of the technician devices 207 may be ahandheld PC (personal computer), wireless handheld device, laptop, smartphone, desktop computer, or other device.

The input module 210 may be used to input any type of informationrelated to performing technician control. The input module 210 may inputconfiguration data or information about unscheduled work orders. Forexample, configuration data or information about unscheduled work ordersfor a client may be received from the client system 206. As anotherexample, the input module 210 may receive information about unscheduledwork orders from a call center component of the control system 205,and/or from an online customer appointment reservation component of thecontrol system 205.

In some implementations, data from the input module 210 is stored in thedata store 220. The data store 220 may be, for example, a relationaldatabase that logically organizes data into a series of database tables.The data included in the data store 220 may be, for example, dataresulting from a particular process (e.g., scheduling data, dispatchdata, technician work order completion data, and/or other types ofreport data related to technician performance). Each database tablearranges data in a series of columns (where each column represents anattribute of the data stored in the database) and rows (where each rowrepresents attribute values). The data store 220 may be, for example, anobject-oriented database that logically or physically organizes datainto a series of objects. Each object may be associated with a series ofattribute values. The data store 220 also may be a type of databasemanagement system that is not necessarily a relational orobject-oriented database. For example, a series of XML (ExtensibleMark-up Language) files or documents may be used, where each XML file ordocument includes attributes and attribute values. Data included in thedata store 220 may be identified by a unique identifier such that datarelated to a particular process may be retrieved from the data store220.

The data store 220 may be configured to maintain segregated data areasfor each of the clients and control access to the segregated areas usingadmission rights. For example, the data store 220 may includeconfiguration data 270 for each client. The configuration data 270 maystore data, for each client, that reflects technician data related totechnicians associated with the client (e.g., personnel information,work order status, technician scheduling, etc.) and configured clientsettings for controlling the integrated components of the control system205. For instance, the configuration data 270 may include clientweighting of various scheduling configuration options used to controlscheduling operations, client configured work orders, client configureddocuments, etc. The configuration data 270 may also include, for eachclient, historical data on completed work orders. The historical datamay be used to forecast future work orders to help plan the number andskills of technicians that may be needed for a particular client.

The rules engine 230 may identify scheduling rules that relate to aclient-selected subset of scheduling configuration options. Thescheduling rules may be identified by comparing the selected subset ofthe scheduling configuration options to data mapping schedulingconfiguration options to rules of a scheduling application. A particularscheduling configuration option may correspond to many, differentscheduling rules and, therefore, the number of scheduling rules may begreater than (perhaps, significantly greater than) the number ofselected scheduling configuration options. Identified scheduling rulesmay be used by one or more scheduling applications. An identifiedscheduling rule may be based on one or more configurable parameters.

The processor 240 may be a processor suitable for the execution of acomputer program such as a general or special purpose microprocessor,and any one or more processors of any kind of digital computer. In someimplementations, the control system 205 includes more than one processor240. The processor 240 may receive instructions and data from memory260. Memory 260 may store instructions and data corresponding to any orall of the components of the control system 205. Memory 260 may includeread-only memory, random-access memory, or both.

The I/O devices 250 are configured to provide input to and output fromthe control system 205. For example, the I/O devices 250 may include amouse, a keyboard, a stylus, or any other device that allows the inputof data into the control system 205 or otherwise communicate with thecontrol system 205. The I/O devices 250 may also include a display, aprinter, or any other device that accepts data from the control system205 and outputs the accepted data to a user of the control system 205.The network 209 may be one or more public or private, wired or wirelessnetworks, such as the Internet.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary computer-implementedprocess 300 for controlling scheduling and dispatch operations for workorders being handled by technicians associated with a client. Briefly,the computer-implemented process 300 includes: pre-defining andaggregating a set of scheduling configuration options, with eachscheduling configuration option representing a high level schedulinggoal; presenting the set of scheduling configuration options to aclient; receiving user input weighting at least one of the schedulingconfiguration options relative to other of the scheduling configurationoptions; configuring, for the user, a scheduling application based onthe user input weighting at least one of the scheduling configurationoptions relative to other of the scheduling configuration options;receiving data defining unscheduled work orders associated with theclient; and performing scheduling operations for the unscheduled workorders using the configured scheduling application. The operations ofthe process 300 may be performed by one or more components of thetechnician control system 100, one or more components of the system 200,or one or more processors included in one or more electronic devices.

In further detail, when the process 300 begins, a set of schedulingconfiguration options is pre-defined and aggregated, with eachscheduling configuration option representing a high level schedulinggoal (310). For example, scheduling configuration options related tofocusing on the customer (e.g., reducing response time, facilitatingsame-day scheduling) may be defined and aggregated. As another example,scheduling configuration options related to minimizing cost (e.g.,minimizing overtime, minimizing drive time) may be defined andaggregated. As yet another example, scheduling configuration optionsrelated to revenue generation (e.g., maximizing number of jobscompleted, prioritizing higher profit work) may be defined andaggregated.

In some implementations, each of the scheduling configuration optionsmay impact multiple parameters of a scheduling application. Forinstance, the scheduling application may have a very large number oftunable parameters that impact performance of the schedulingapplication. Each scheduling configuration option, however, mayrepresent a higher level scheduling goal that encompasses a number ofthe tunable parameters, rather than corresponding directly to a singletunable parameter. In this regard, rather than presenting a user withall of the possible combinations of tunable parameters, the user ispresented with a reduced and more manageable set of high levelconfiguration options with which to configure the schedulingapplication. Based on user selections related to the high levelconfiguration options, the system automatically adjusts the many tunableparameters of the scheduling application to meet the user's high levelscheduling goals.

The scheduling configuration options may be defined based on high levelscheduling goals that are important to clients. For instance, based onpast experience with scheduling and business decision making, thescheduling configuration options may be defined to correspond to highlevel goals that are important to clients. The high level goals may thenbe mapped to particular tunable parameters or scheduling rules needed toimplement the higher level goal using the scheduling application, sothat a client's input related to a higher level goal may be realized.High level goals that are important to clients may be input by an expertthat has a large amount of industry experience, may be automaticallydetermined by receiving survey data from multiple clients (or potentialclients), and may be automatically determined based on interaction withthe system and client actions and/or requests related to scheduling overtime.

The scheduling configuration options also may be defined based on thetunable parameters of the scheduling application. For example, thetunable parameters of the scheduling application may be grouped intorelated parameters and a scheduling goal that describes the relationshipbetween the parameters may be defined. In this example, the parametersmay be grouped to maximize the number of parameters included in therespective groups. Maximizing the number of parameters in each group mayreduce the number of scheduling configuration options and provide themost convenient options to the user for ease of selection.

The parameters also may be grouped by analyzing past configurations ofthe scheduling application. For instance, the system may track pastconfiguration of the tunable parameters and identify trends in changingparticular parameters (e.g., which parameters are changed together andhow). Based on the identified trends, the parameters may be arranged ingroups that are typically configured in a similar manner and a highlevel goal related to each group/trend may be defined. The schedulingconfiguration options may be defined based on user input and/or may bedefined automatically by a system/processor.

The set of scheduling configuration options is presented to a client(320). For example, the set of scheduling configuration options may bepresented to a client on a graphical user interface (e.g., interface 600(see FIG. 6A), interface 800 (see FIG. 8)). As another example, the setof scheduling configuration options may be presented to a client using apaper-based form.

User input weighting at least one of the scheduling configurationoptions relative to other of the scheduling configuration options isreceived (330). For example, user input selecting a subset of thescheduling configuration options may be received, where the selectedsubset represents scheduling goals on which the client would like tofocus in performing scheduling operations. As another example, weightingparameters may be received for one or more configuration options,indicating relative importance for weighted scheduling configurationoptions as compared to other scheduling configuration options.

A scheduling application is configured for the user based on the userinput weighting at least one of the scheduling configuration optionsrelative to other of the scheduling configuration options (340). Forexample, a scheduling application may be configured by identifying andtailoring weighting parameters that relate to scheduling configurationoptions selected by the client. As another example, a set of rules andconfiguration variables may be mapped to client-inputted weightingparameters, and the scheduling application may be adapted based on theset of rules and configuration variables. The configuration of thescheduling application may include modification of more parameters ofthe scheduling application than the number of scheduling configurationoptions input by the client. For example, the client may select fivescheduling configuration options representing five high level goals onwhich the client would like to focus in performing schedulingoperations, and twenty five variables of the scheduling application maybe configured based on the five selected scheduling configurationoptions.

Data defining unscheduled work orders associated with the client isreceived (350). For example, data defining unscheduled work orders maybe received by a client system associated with the client. As anotherexample, data defining work orders may be received from a call centerand/or from an online customer appointment reservation system.

Scheduling operations are performed for the unscheduled work ordersusing the configured scheduling application (360). For example,unscheduled work orders may be assigned, using the configured schedulingapplication, to one or more of technicians associated with the client,and work orders may be dispatched to assigned technicians.

FIG. 4 illustrates a table 400 of example scheduling configurationoptions. A scheduling configuration option represents a scheduling goal.A scheduling configuration option may impact one or more parameters of ascheduling application when selected. Column 410 of the table 400displays scheduling configuration option names and column 420 displaysscheduling configuration option descriptions. The schedulingconfiguration options presented in the table 400 may be used as thepre-defined and aggregated set of scheduling configuration options inthe process 300.

A preferred-status option 430 affects accounting for preferred statuscustomers. For example, a priority may be given to scheduling preferredstatus customers over customers that do not have preferred status. Inthis example, the preferred status customers may be given more desirableappointment times or may be scheduled sooner than a customer withnon-preferred status. A provide-shortest-time-windows option 431indicates a preference to create the shortest average time window perappointment. A minimize-response-time option 432 indicates a preferencethat an appointment be created as close as possible to the date/time ofthe appointment request. A room-for-same-day-scheduling option 433indicates a preference that time slots be left open in the dailyschedule in anticipation of unplanned work. For example, one or moretime slots may be left unassigned in schedules for some or alltechnicians. A least-drive-time option 434 indicates a preference thatdrive time between work orders be minimized. For example, when assigninga technician to a work order, preference may be given to assign atechnician whose previous appointment is closest to the customer. Aminimize-overtime option 435 indicates a preference that the amount ofextra pay for overtime work be minimized. For example, technicians maybe scheduled so that total weekly hours for each technician are fortyhours or less.

A least-costly-labor-resource option 436 indicates a preference that theleast costly labor resource be selected per assignment. For example, atechnician who earns a lower rate per hour may be selected over atechnician who earns a higher rate per hour. As another example, theleast qualified technician who is capable of performing the work may beselected. A same-equipment-for-most-jobs option 437 indicates apreference that orders that require the same equipment needs be grouped.For example, a technician may use special equipment for installationwork orders, and installation work orders (as compared to repair workorders) may be grouped.

A preference-to-higher-profit-work option 438 indicates a preferencethat a priority be given to work that has a higher profit margin. Forexample, the client may service more than one product, with a firstproduct having a higher profit margin than a second product, andpreference may be given in scheduling to the first product. Amaximize-number-of-jobs-per-day option 439 indicates a preference thatthe number of jobs performed per day be maximized. For example,technicians may be scheduled to work overtime in order to increase thenumber of jobs performed per day. A preferred-field-technician option440 indicates a preference that assignments be scheduled based onproviding the best-skilled technician or a requested technician. Anallow-for-fill-in-work option 441 indicates a preference that time slotsbe left open in the daily schedule for fill-in work. For example, one ormore time slots may be left open for fill-in work in schedules for someor all technicians.

In some implementations, scheduling configuration options may be groupedby category (e.g., an even higher level goal). For example, options430-433 may be associated with a customer-focus category. As additionalexamples, options 434-437 may be associated with a cost-optimizationcategory and options 438-441 may be associated with a revenue-generationcategory.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a computer-implemented process 500for configuring a scheduling application. Briefly, thecomputer-implemented process 500 includes: receiving user inputselecting a subset of the scheduling configuration options, the selectedsubset representing high level scheduling goals on which the clientwould like to focus in performing scheduling operations; identifyingscheduling rules that relate to the selected subset of the schedulingconfiguration options; tailoring the identified scheduling rules basedon the selected subset of the scheduling configuration options; andconfiguring, for the client, the scheduling application to use thetailored scheduling rules. The operations of the process 500 may beperformed by one or more components of the technician control system100, one or more components of the system 200, or one or more processorsincluded in one or more electronic devices.

In further detail, when the process 500 begins, user input selecting asubset of the scheduling configuration options is received (510), theselected subset representing high level scheduling goals on which theclient would like to focus in performing scheduling operations. The usermay select scheduling configuration options using, for example, a userinterface 600 (illustrated in FIG. 6A).

The user interface 600 includes a control 602, which the user may selectto indicate that the user desires to select a custom set of schedulingconfiguration options. Areas 604 a-c display scheduling configurationoptions that the user may select. The areas 604 a-c display schedulingconfiguration options grouped by category. For example, area 604 adisplays scheduling configuration options related to customer focus,area 604 b displays scheduling configuration options related to costoptimization, and area 604 c displays scheduling configuration optionsrelated to revenue generation.

Area 604 a displays example scheduling configuration options related toaccounting for preferred-status customers, providing minimum timewindows for appointments, minimizing response time, and leaving room ina daily schedule to allow for same day scheduling of appointments. Area604 b displays example scheduling configuration options related tominimizing drive time, minimizing overtime, using the least expensivelabor resource, and grouping orders which require the same equipmentneeds. Area 604 c displays example scheduling configuration optionsrelated to prioritizing work that has a higher profit margin, maximizingthe number of jobs completed per day, prioritizing assignments based onproviding the best-skilled or requested technician, and providing roomin the daily schedule for fill-in work.

The user may select one or more scheduling configuration options in oneor more of the areas 604 a-c and then add the one or more selectedoptions to a selected options list 606. For example, the user may “dragand drop” selected options onto the selected options list 606 or theuser may add selected options using an add button 608. A schedulingconfiguration option may be removed from the selected options list 606,by, for example, using a remove button 609. The selected options list606 currently includes scheduling configuration options 610 a and 610 b(which had been added from the area 604 a) and scheduling configurationoption 610 c (which had been added from the area 604 b).

The user may promote or demote options included in the selected optionslist 606 using buttons 611 a and 611 b. For example, the selectedoptions list 606 may be a ranked list in which the first option in thelist is the most important to the user and the other options areprovided in the list in order of decreasing importance. The buttons 611a and 611 b may be used to adjust the order of the selected options. Theorder may be used in configuring the scheduling application (e.g.,breaking ties/conflicts that arise when two selected goals would resultin contrary adjustments to the scheduling application).

In addition to allowing the user to select scheduling configurationoptions from more than one category (e.g., from more than one ofcustomer focus, cost optimization, revenue generation), the user mayalternatively select control 612 a, 612 b, or 612 c to indicate that ageneral focus for scheduling should be either customer focus, costoptimization, or revenue generation, respectively. For instance,selection of the control 612 a may cause all of the configurationoptions included in the customer focus category to be selected.

The controls 612 a-c may also be used to filter the display ofselectable options. For example, if the user selects control 612 a, thearea 604 a may remain displayed in the interface 600, while the areas604 b and 604 c may become hidden, otherwise removed from the interface600, or non-operational. User interface approaches other than thoseshown in FIG. 6A may be used. For example, a series of interlinkedslider controls may be used to select and prioritize schedulingconfiguration options.

Returning to FIG. 5, after a subset of scheduling configuration optionsis selected, scheduling rules that relate to the selected subset of thescheduling configuration options are identified (520). The schedulingrules may be identified by comparing the selected subset of thescheduling configuration options to data mapping schedulingconfiguration options to rules of the scheduling application. Aparticular scheduling configuration option may correspond to many,different scheduling rules and, therefore, the number of schedulingrules may be greater than (perhaps, significantly greater than) thenumber of selected scheduling configuration options. Identifiedscheduling rules may be used by a scheduling application. An identifiedscheduling rule may be based on one or more configurable parameters.

The identified scheduling rules are tailored based on the selectedsubset of the scheduling configuration options (530). For example, thevalue of one or more configurable parameters may be modified accordingto the selected subset of scheduling configuration options. For example,if a selected scheduling configuration option indicated a priority forminimizing overtime, a parameter affecting the maximum number of hoursworked per day per technician may be modified to a value of eight, and aparameter affecting the maximum number of hours worked per technicianper week may be modified to a value of forty. As another example, if aselected configuration option indicated a priority for maximizing thenumber of jobs performed per day, and if there was no indication tominimize overtime, then a parameter affecting the maximum number ofhours worked per day per technician may be modified to a value higherthan eight (e.g., twelve), and a parameter affecting the maximum numberof hours worked per week per technician may be modified to a valuehigher than forty (e.g., sixty). The modified parameter values may bestored in a configured data section of an electronic data storeassociated with the control system, in association with the client. Insome implementations, the tailoring of identified scheduling rules isdone once during client configuration (e.g., not done every day).

An order in which the selected subset of the scheduling configurationoptions are ranked may be used in tailoring the identified schedulingrules. For instance, when two identified scheduling rules conflict, therule associated with the higher ranked scheduling configuration optionmay be selected and the other rule may not be selected. In addition,when two goals suggest different modifications to parameters of thescheduling application, the order may be used to tailor the schedulingrules. Suppose both the minimize overtime and maximize the number ofjobs performed per day configuration options have been selected. Asdiscussed above, selection of the minimize overtime option may result inthe maximum number of hours worked per day per technician parameterbeing set to eight and selection of the maximize the number of jobsperformed per day option may result in the maximum number of hoursworked per day per technician parameter being set to twelve. In thiscase, the maximum number of hours worked per day per technicianparameter may be set to eight when the minimize overtime option isranked higher than the maximize the number of jobs performed per dayoption. Alternatively, the maximum number of hours worked per day pertechnician parameter may be set to twelve when the maximize the numberof jobs performed per day option is ranked higher than the minimizeovertime option.

The identified scheduling rules may be tailored automatically by acomputer process, or manually through a user interface. For example,FIG. 6B shows an example user interface 614 for tailoring schedulingrules. The interface 614 includes tabs 616 a-d, which an administratormay select to tailor general rules, or rules corresponding toobjectives, business values, or appointment booking values,respectively. For example, the interface 614 shows the tab 616 b asselected, which allows the administrator to tailor rules correspondingto objectives by selecting or deselecting various controls 617 a-n. Eachof the controls 617 a-n correspond to a scheduling objective. Forexample, control 617 c corresponds to an objective to minimize idle timeand control 617 f corresponds to an objective to minimize travel timebetween assignments.

The administrator may select a control 617 a-n to toggle the selectedcontrol state. The administrator may also select all controls 617 a-n byselecting a select-all button 618 a, or may deselect all controls 617a-n by selecting a select-none button 618 b. The administrator mayselect an “ok” button 618 c to save any changes and close the interface614. The interface 614 may be closed without saving changes by theselection of a cancel button 618 d.

For each client-selected scheduling configuration option, one or morecontrols 617 a-n may be modified. For example, if the client selected a“minimize overtime” scheduling configuration option, control 617 e maybe selected, which may result in consideration of overtime in schedulingprocesses. In addition to selecting or deselecting controls 617 a-n, theadministrator may adjust the relative weight of a selected objective byselecting an edit weight button 619. Weight values may be specified as avalue from 0 to 100. For example, if the client indicated a slightpreference to minimize overtime, the administrator may set the weight ofthe “minimize overtime” objective to a relatively moderate value (e.g.,31 to 50), whereas if the client indicated a strong preference tominimize overtime, the administrator may set the weight of the “minimizeovertime” objective to a high value, such as 100. As another example oftailoring a scheduling rule, an administrator may select the control 617n, in response to a client-selected scheduling configuration option of“preferred field technician”, to configure scheduling so thatassignments are prioritized based on providing the best-skilled ormost-requested field technician.

Several objectives may be modified in response to one client-selectedscheduling configuration option. For example, if the client selected a“least drive time” scheduling configuration option to reduce mileage andgas costs, the administrator may select some or all of the controls 617f, 617 g, and 617 k to minimize travel between assignments, minimizetravel from the home base, and configure a preference for work to bedone at a common site by a technician who is already assigned to work atthat location, respectively. The weights of the objectives correspondingto controls 617 f, 617 g, and 617 k may be individually configured tofine tune how drive time is minimized. For example, for a company whoservices a rural area, where all drive times are relatively long, theweight for the “minimize travel between assignments” may be set to alower weight (e.g., 50) than a weight of 100 for the objectivecorresponding to control 617 k (“same site objective”). As anotherexample, the weight of the objective corresponding to control 617 g canbe increased if a client has a strong preference to minimize travel fromthe home base.

One objective may be associated with more than one client-selectedscheduling configuration option. For example, if a client selected ascheduling configuration option of “minimizing response time”, anadministrator may select and/or change the corresponding weight of the“schedule as soon as possible” objective (e.g., control 617 m). Theadministrator may also select and/or change the weight of the “scheduleas soon as possible” objective if the client selects a schedulingconfiguration option of “preferred status”. If the client selects thepreferred status scheduling configuration option, they are indicating apriority for taking into account service level agreements for customers(for example, customers who have a “Platinum” service-level agreementmay be promised same-day service, while customers who have a “Gold” or“Silver” service-level agreement may be promised 3 or 5 day serviceresponse times). If the client indicated a high preference forminimizing response time, the “schedule as soon as possible” objectivemay be given a relatively high weight, which may result in work ordersbeing completed well before the contractual response times specified bya customer's service-level agreement. If the client desires that theresponse time be close to, but still within the time specified by theservice-level agreement, a lower weight can be specified for the“schedule as soon as possible” objective.

Other user interfaces may be used to tailor scheduling rules. Forexample, an example interface 622 shown in FIG. 6C may be used toconfigure appointment booking time slots. Appointment booking time slotsmay be configured as part of new client configuration. Multipleappointment booking profiles may be configured within the techniciancontrol system. Example appointment booking profiles may includefull-day, half-day or two-hour slots. One or more appointment bookingprofiles may be associated with a client, for example, in response toclient selection and weighting of a “use shortest time window”scheduling configuration option.

Existing appointment booking profiles are shown in the interface 622 ina list 623. An administrator may add a new appointment booking profileby selecting an add button 624 a. The administrator may duplicate anexisting appointment booking profile by selecting an appointment bookingprofile in the list 623 and then selecting a duplicate button 624 b. Anappointment booking profile may be deleted by selecting it in the list623 and then selecting a delete button 624 c.

Details about an existing appointment booking profile may be displayedin an area 625 by selecting an appointment booking profile in the list623. For example, a two-hour appointment booking profile 626 iscurrently selected in the list 623 and the area 625 displays fourdefined two-hour time slots for each weekday. A new time slot may beadded by selecting a day of the week using a control 627 a, selecting astart time using a control 627 b, selecting an end time using a control627 c, and selecting an add button 627 d. The most recently added timeslot may be duplicated by selecting a duplicate button 627 e. A timeslot may be deleted by selecting the time slot in the area 625 and thenselecting a delete button 627 f. Changes made to appointment bookingprofiles may be saved and the interface 622 may be closed by selectingan “ok” button 627 g. The interface 622 may be closed without savingchanges by selecting a cancel button 627 h.

An appointment booking profile may be associated with one or moreservice level agreements. A customer of the client may, in turn, beassociated with a service level agreement. An example interface 630shown in FIG. 6D allows an administrator to configure service levelagreements. Existing service level agreement profiles are shown in theinterface 630 in a list 631. An administrator may add a new servicelevel agreement profile by selecting an add button 632 a. Theadministrator may duplicate an existing service level agreement profileby selecting a service level agreement profile in the list 631 and thenselecting a duplicate button 632 b. A service level agreement profilemay be deleted by selecting it in the list 631 and then selecting adelete button 632 c.

Details about an existing service level agreement profile may bedisplayed in an area 633 by selecting a service level agreement profilein the list 631. For example, a “Platinum” service level agreementprofile 634 is currently selected in the list 631 and the area 633displays attribute names, attribute data types and attribute values forthe service level agreement profile 634. The service level agreementprofile 634 includes an appointment booking profile attribute 635 whichhas a value of “Two-Hour Appointment Slots”. For example, theappointment booking profile attribute 635 may correspond to anappointment booking profile created using the interface 622 (FIG. 6C).

Attribute values for a selected service level agreement profile may bemodified by selecting an edit button 636 a. Changes made to servicelevel agreement profiles may be saved and the interface 630 may beclosed by selecting an “ok” button 636 b. The interface 630 may beclosed without saving changes by selecting a cancel button 630 c.

FIG. 6E illustrates an example interface 640 for tailoring schedulingrules related to scheduling constraints. An administrator may select acontrol 642 a to configure whether field technician travel to and fromthe home base during working hours is considered when scheduling fieldtechnicians. A control 642 b may be selected to configure whether afield technician may work in several districts. The administrator mayselect control 642 c to configure whether scheduling capacity isreserved. An area 644 a may be used to define lunch break times forfield technicians. The settings in interface 640 may be saved byselecting an “ok” button 646 a. The interface 640 may be closed withoutsaving changes by selecting a cancel button 646 b.

Enabling control 642 b configures “soft boundaries” for fieldtechnicians. Field technicians may be assigned to a “home” district, andif soft boundaries are not enabled, field technicians may be restrictedto working on work orders that are located within their assigneddistrict. If soft boundaries are enabled, field technicians may beassigned to work orders outside of their home district. For example, afield technician may be assigned to a work order in an adjacent districtif there are no field technicians available in the adjacent district. Ifthere is an overabundance of a particular type of work in a firstdistrict that field technicians in a second district are qualified for,then field technicians from the second district may be dispatched to thework (e.g., if the first district does not have capacity to service allof the work). The system may be configured to prefer field technicianswho are assigned to the district associated with the work order, and mayonly schedule field technicians from other districts if a schedulingoptimization process determines that assigning field techniciansexternal to the district creates a preferable schedule.

The area 644 a may be used by an administrator to configure whether adefined field technician lunch break is considered during scheduling.For example, field technicians may be excluded from scheduling duringtheir lunch break. A control 644 b may be selected to disable lunchbreak definition, which may result in making field technicians availablefor work orders during lunchtime (e.g., eleven A.M. to one P.M.). Acontrol 644 c may be selected if lunch break definitions exist but aredefined elsewhere. For example, lunch break definitions may be definedusing another interface on a per-field-technician orper-field-technician-group basis. A control 644 d may be selected if aparticular lunch break timeframe is to be defined. If control 644 d isselected, a control 644 e may be used to define the lunch break starttime (e.g., twelve P.M.) and a control 644 f may be used to define thelunch break duration (e.g., one hour).

As mentioned above, control 642 c may be selected to configure whetherscheduling capacity is reserved. For example, capacity may be reservedfor unplanned work, such as for high priority emergency work (e.g.,downed power lines). Control 642 c may be configured in response to aclient-selected “room for same day scheduling” scheduling configurationoption.

Once capacity reservation has been enabled in the scheduling policy(e.g., control 642 c), capacity may be reserved within the system on atask and district basis. For example, for each district, the system canbe configured to reserve a percentage of the workday for a task or groupof tasks. FIG. 6F illustrates an example interface 650 for configuringcapacity reservation for a task type for a district. The interface 650displays information corresponding to a dictionary entry for a districtnamed “Indianapolis”. The dictionary entry includes a “Key” attribute652 a, a “Revision” attribute 652 b, a “Name” attribute 652 c, a“District” attribute 652 d, a “TaskType” attribute 652 e, and a“CapacityThreshold” attribute 652 f. The attributes 652 a-f may beedited by selecting an edit button 654 a. Changes to attribute valuesmay be saved by selecting an “ok” button 654 b. The interface 650 may beclosed without saving changes by selecting a cancel button 654 c.

The “TaskType” attribute 652 e has a value corresponding to a task typefor servicing downed power lines. The “CapacityThreshold” attribute 652f has a value of ninety, which indicates that for the Indianapolisdistrict, that no more than ninety percent of a days scheduled workorders may be for tasks that are not servicing downed power lines. Whenselecting a capacity threshold value, an administrator may select avalue that reserves sufficient capacity to handle the correspondingtask, but the administrator may also be mindful that the reservedcapacity may not be utilized if capacity-requiring tasks (e.g., downedpower lines) do not come into the system.

An administrator may use the example interfaces illustrated in FIGS.6G-6K to configure scheduling rules in response to client-selected“least costly labor resource” or “preference to higher profit work”scheduling configuration options. For scheduling processes to determineleast costly labor resources, costs of internal field technicians may becompared to costs for external field technicians (e.g., internal fieldtechnicians may be employees of the client while external fieldtechnicians may be contractors working for another company). Anadministrator may select a control 662 a on an example interface 660illustrated in FIG. 6G to configure whether external field techniciansare to be considered for scheduling.

The interface 660 includes other controls 662 b-g corresponding to otherscheduling rules, such as whether to reserve capacity for unplannedwork, schedule external engineers, schedule inactive engineers, scheduletasks in the past, use a duration rule, or schedule within engineerworking hours, respectively. The administrator may select all controls662 a-g by selecting a select-all button 662 h, or may deselect allcontrols 662 a-g by selecting a select-none button 662 i. Theadministrator may select an “ok” button 662 j to save any changes andclose the interface 660. The interface 660 may be closed without savingchanges by the selection of a cancel button 662 k.

FIG. 6H illustrates an example interface 664 which may be used tofurther configure cost and revenue related scheduling rules. Anadministrator may select one or more controls 665 a-p. If external fieldtechnicians are enabled to be scheduled, an administrator may selectcontrol 665 d to configure whether scheduling processes may considerrelative costs of external engineers as compared to internal engineers.

FIG. 6I illustrates an example interface 670 which an administrator mayuse to configure field technician costs. The interface 670 may be usedto configure relative cost differentials between internal and externalfield technicians. If external field technicians are more expensive theninternal field technicians, a relevance group control 672 a may be setto a value of “external engineers”. If internal field technicians aremore expensive than external field technicians, the relevance groupcontrol 672 a may be set to a value of “internal engineers”. In thisexample, where the relevance group is “external engineers”, a control672 b may be used to configure the cost differential between externaland internal field technicians. In other words, the control 672 b may beused to enter a value which indicates how much more an external fieldtechnician may cost per hour than an internal field technician.

The value displayed in the control 672 b may be a relative amount basedon the value of a task revenue setting. An example interface 676illustrated in FIG. 6J may be used to configure a relative task revenuesetting that may be used to calculate other business value costs. A taskrevenue value may be entered into a control 678. Considering the control672 b of FIG. 6I, if the task revenue setting has a value of onehundred, and if external field technicians cost ten percent more thaninternal field technicians, then the value of the control 672 b may beten percent of one hundred (e.g., ten).

The interface 670 may also be used to configure the relative overtimecost difference between external and internal field technicians. Acontrol 672 c may be used, in this example, to configure how much moreper hour overtime costs are for an external field technician as comparedto an internal field technician. As shown, the control 672 has a valueof zero, indicating that overtime rates for external field techniciansare the same as overtime rates for internal field technicians.

Other cost-related settings may be configured using the interface 670.For example, a control 672 d may be used to configure a base cost pertask. As another example, a control 672 e may be used to configure anidle time cost. Idle time cost represents the cost to the client when afield technician is unassigned to revenue-producing work.

Controls 673 a-d may be selected to indicate that corresponding settingsare defined elsewhere, such as on a per-field-technician basis. Theadministrator may select an “ok” button 674 a to save any changes andclose the interface 670. The interface 670 may be closed without savingchanges by the selection of a cancel button 674 b.

Field technician costs may be considered for scheduling when a clientselects a “preference for higher profit work” scheduling configurationoption. Additionally, in response to the selection of a “preference forhigher profit work” scheduling configuration option, otherrevenue-related costs may be considered and scheduling rules related torevenue generation may be tailored. For example, an administrator mayselect various controls in the example interface 664 (FIG. 6H). Thecontrol 665 b may be used to configure whether basic task revenue isconsidered in scheduling processes. The control 665 a may be used toconfigure whether bonus revenue may be considered for scheduling workorders as soon as possible. The control 665 c may be used to configurewhether bonus revenue may be considered when work orders are scheduledon or near the work order due date. The controls 665 g and 665 h may beused to configure whether travel and overtime costs are considered,respectively. The controls 665 i-p may be used to configure whethertasks of different priority levels generate more revenue than othertasks.

The controls 665 e and 665 f may be used to configure whether idle costis considered. As mentioned, idle cost represents the cost to the clientwhen a field technician is unassigned to revenue-producing work. In someimplementations, the controls 665 e and 665 f are mutually exclusive,meaning that if control 665 e is selected to indicate that maximum idlecost be considered, then control 665 f may be controlled to beunselected. Similarly, if control 665 f is selected to indicate that amedium idle cost be considered, then control 665 e may be controlled tobe unselected. The administrator may select all controls 665 a-p byselecting a select-all button 667 a, or may deselect all controls 665a-p by selecting a select-none button 667 b. The administrator mayselect an “ok” button 667 c to save any changes and close the interface660. The interface 660 may be closed without saving changes by theselection of a cancel button 667 d.

If revenue-related rules are enabled, an administrator may use theexample interface 680 illustrated in FIG. 6K to configure values forrevenue-related settings. For example, a control 682 a may be used toconfigure a bonus revenue amount for scheduling work orders as soon aspossible and a control 682 b may be used to configure a bonus amount forscheduling work orders on or near the work order due date. The bonusamounts entered in the controls 682 a-b may be tangible, actualincreases in revenue or may be values representing an intangible benefitsuch as increased customer satisfaction.

The control 682 c may be used to configure an amount representing theadditional revenue obtained if a second work order is scheduled at thesame site where a field technician is servicing a first work order. Theamount entered in control 682 c may include, for example, saved travelcosts and saved idle time costs. The control 682 d may be used toconfigure a travel cost per work order.

The controls 682 e-682L may be used to configure amounts of additionalrevenue which may be generated by completing tasks of different prioritylevels. For example, a priority 1 task may correspond to a high priorityor emergency task which gets escalated and which results in a highercharge to the customer (and therefore may earn more revenue for theclient). Revenue amounts for up to eight priority levels may beconfigured using the interface 680. The administrator may select an “ok”button 684 a to save any changes and close the interface 680. Theinterface 680 may be closed without saving changes by the selection of acancel button 684 b.

Returning to FIG. 5, the scheduling application is configured, for theclient, to use the tailored scheduling rules (540). The performance ofscheduling operations by the scheduling application may be based onand/or be conditional upon the evaluation and interpretation of rules.The interpretation and evaluation of rules may be based on configurable,variable parameter values. For example, the scheduling application mayread configured parameter values from an electronic data storeassociated with the client, and these retrieved values may be used as apart of rule evaluation and interpretation. For example, beforeassigning a work order to a technician, a check may be performed to seewhether the technician has reached either a maximum hours per day ormaximum hours per week limit. Client-specific “maximum-hours-per-day”and “maximum-hours-per-week” parameter values may be read from anelectronic data store before testing to see whether the technician hasreached either the maximum hours per day or maximum hours per weeklimit. Retrieved parameter values may be different for each client. Forexample, for one client, the value of the maximum-hours-per-dayparameter may be eight, while the maximum-hours-per-day parameter valuemay be twelve for another client.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a computer-implemented process 700for adapting a scheduling application. Briefly, the computer-implementedprocess 700 includes receiving a user input setting weighting parametersfor one or more of the scheduling configuration options, mapping theweighting parameters for the one or more of the scheduling configurationoptions to a detailed set of rules and configuration variables, andadapting the scheduling application based on the detailed set of rulesand configuration variables. The operations of the process 700 may beperformed by one or more components of the technician control system100, one or more components of the system 200, or one or more processorsincluded in one or more electronic devices.

In further detail, when the process 700 begins, user input settingweighting parameters for one or more of the scheduling configurationoptions is received (710). The user may input weighting parameters usingan interface 800 (as illustrated in FIG. 8). Similar to the interface600 of FIG. 6A, the interface 800 includes a control 805, which the usermay select to indicate that the user desires to select and weight acustom set of scheduling configuration options. The interface 800includes areas 810, 820, and 830 for displaying available schedulingconfiguration options related to customer focus, cost optimization, andrevenue generation, respectively.

Similar to the interface 600, the user may add selected schedulingconfiguration options to a selected options list 840 from the areas810-830, for example, using an add button 842. The user may select aweighting parameter for each scheduling configuration option displayedin the selected options list 840. For example, a weighting parametervalue of seven for a preferred-status option has been selected using acontrol 850 and a weighting parameter value of three for aminimize-response-time option has been selected using a control 855. Asshown by the expanded control 860, the user may be presented with adefined list of weighting parameter values (e.g., whole number valuesfrom one to ten). In the expanded control, the user has selected aweighting parameter value of three to indicate that the minimizeovertime option is of equal importance to the user as the minimizeresponse time option. Each of the minimize overtime option and theminimize response time option are of relatively less importance to theuser as compared to the preferred status option and are of relativelygreater importance to the user as compared to the other options thathave not been selected.

Scheduling configuration options may be removed from the selectedoptions list 840 using a remove option button 845. Similar to theinterface 600, the user may select one of controls 870-880 to filter theselectable scheduling configuration options to a category such ascustomer-focus, cost-optimization, or revenue-generation. For example,in some implementations, if the user selects control 880, the area 820may remain displayed in the interface 800, while the areas 810 and 830may become hidden, otherwise removed from the interface 800, ornon-operational. In some implementations, selecting a control 870-880results in the selection of all scheduling configuration optionscorresponding to the respective category.

Returning to FIG. 7, when the weighting parameters have been received,the weighting parameters for the one or more of the schedulingconfiguration options are mapped to a detailed set of rules andconfiguration variables (720). The weighting parameters may be mapped,for example, to a set of rules and configuration variables included in ascheduling application. For example, if leaving room for same dayappointments is selected as a scheduling configuration option, a rulemay be identified which determines, for example, whether to leave ablock of unscheduled time at the end of all or some technicians'schedules to be made available for same day appointments.

The identified rule may be based on one or more configuration variables.For example, the identified rule may be based on a configurationvariable which may have a value of either true or false, with a truevalue indicating that end-of-day time should be intentionally leftunscheduled for same-day appointments and a false value indicating thatend-of-day time should not be intentionally left unscheduled forsame-day appointments. The identified rule may also be based on a secondconfiguration variable which may indicate how much time to leaveunscheduled or may indicate what percentage of technicians should haveend-of-day slots open. The value of the second configuration variablemay be based on the received weighting parameter. For example, if theweighting parameter for a “leave room for unplanned appointments”scheduling configuration option is 10 (e.g., indicating a very highpriority), the value of a configuration variable may be set to “twohours”, interpreted as meaning that the last two hours of everytechnician's schedule should be left open to facilitate servicingunplanned appointments. As another example, if the weighting parameterfor the “leave room for unplanned appointments” is two (e.g.,indicating, some, but not high importance), the value of a customvariable may be set to “ten percent”, indicating that ten percent oftechnicians should remain unscheduled for the last portion (e.g., onehour) of their work day, to facilitate servicing of unplannedappointments.

The scheduling application is adapted based on the detailed set of rulesand configuration variables (730). For example, the value of one or moreconfiguration variables may be read from an electronic data store, andthe retrieved values may be used during rule interpretation andevaluation, which may affect performed scheduling operations. Thescheduling application may be adapted dynamically based on configurationdata accessed during operation of the scheduling application or theadapted scheduling application may be stored as a client-specificversion of the scheduling application that is used for scheduling workorders for the particular client.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a computer-implemented process 900for assisting a supervisor to take action to address a schedule orquality issue. Briefly, the computer-implemented process 900 includesidentifying technicians supervised by a particular supervisor that usesa particular device, determining progress of scheduled work orders foreach of the identified technicians, enabling the supervisor to view datareflecting the determined progress of scheduled work orders, monitoringprogress of scheduled work orders for each of the identifiedtechnicians, determining whether a schedule or quality issue isdetected, and if a schedule or quality issue is detected, triggering amessage to the supervisor to alert the supervisor of the detected issue,and assisting the supervisor in taking action to correct the detectedissue. The operations of the process 900 may be performed by one or morecomponents of the technician control system 100, one or more componentsof the system 200, or one or more processors included in one or moreelectronic devices.

In further detail, when the process 900 begins, technicians supervisedby a particular supervisor that uses a particular device are identified(910). For example, a supervisor may supervise multiple technicians(e.g., 10 technicians). In a dispatch application, configuration of atechnician account may include the selection of a supervisor user whosupervises the technician. A query may be performed in the dispatchapplication to determine a set of technicians who are configured asbeing supervised by a particular supervisor. The supervisor may bedetermined by selecting a particular supervisor from a list, or bydetermining a supervisor who is registered to user a particular handhelddevice from which the query was initiated. For example, the supervisormay use a handheld device to run a dispatch application, communicatewith technicians and perform other actions. For example, the supervisormay use a handheld PC (personal computer), wireless handheld device,laptop, smart phone, desktop computer, or other device.

Progress and status of scheduled work orders is determined for each ofthe identified technicians (920). For example, technicians maycommunicate status and progress of work orders using a mobile device,such as a handheld PC, laptop, smart phone, wireless handheld device, orother device. A technician may carry a mobile device, or a mobile devicemay be mounted in a technician's vehicle. Progress and status may becommunicated from each technician to a dispatch application.

The supervisor is enabled to view data reflecting the determinedprogress and status of scheduled work orders (930). For example, in someimplementations, the supervisor may be provided access to a dispatchapplication. The supervisor may have access to the dispatch applicationfrom a mobile device (e.g., handheld PC) and/or from another device suchas a desktop computer. Progress and status of each work order for eachtechnician supervised by the supervisor may be displayed in the dispatchinterface in a list and/or map interface. In some implementations, thesupervisor has access to a supervisor application which provides adifferent view of work orders than the dispatch application.

Progress and status of scheduled work orders is monitored for each ofthe identified technicians (940). For example, as each technicianupdates the status and progress of work orders that they are working on,the updated status and progress may be communicated to and displayed inthe dispatch application. The supervisor may use the dispatchapplication to monitor progress and status of the work orders assignedto the technicians that the supervisor supervises.

It is determined whether a schedule or quality issue is detected (950).The determination whether a schedule or quality issue has been detectedmay be performed manually or automatically. For example, a set of rulescan be defined which describe conditions which indicate a schedule orquality issue. For example, FIG. 10 illustrates a set of alert triggerrules 1000. As illustrated by rules 1010-1020, a schedule or qualityissue may be detected if progress of a technician falls a certainpercentage (e.g., twenty five percent) behind expected progress or if awork order is not completed after a threshold amount of time (e.g.,fifty minutes, thirty minutes, etc.) has elapsed. Different thresholdamounts of time may be configured for different jobs or different typesof jobs. Different threshold amounts of time may be defined fordifferent types of technicians (e.g., rules may be set for specifictechnicians, rules may be set for specific groups of technicians, suchas groups of technicians with similar skills or technicians having asimilar number of years of experience). As illustrated by rules1030-1060, a schedule or quality issue may be detected if a complaint isreceived, if an incident report is initiated, if it is determined thatthe skills and/or experience of an assigned technician is low for a workorder that the technician is assigned to, or if it is determined that itis likely that the technician may miss the next scheduled appointmentdue to the combination of the amount of estimated work time remainingplus the amount of estimated travel time to the next scheduledappointment exceeding the time remaining until the next scheduledappointment.

If a schedule or quality issue is not detected, monitoring of status andprogress of scheduled work orders continues for each of the identifiedtechnicians. If a schedule or quality issue is detected, a message tothe supervisor is triggered to alert the supervisor of the detectedissue (960). For example, if progress of a technician falls a certainpercentage behind expected progress, an alert message such as theexample alert message 1100 illustrated in FIG. 11 may be sent to thesupervisor's device.

The alert message 1100 includes a title 1110 indicating that progress of“technician three” is behind schedule. A status bar 1120 indicates thatthe work order is fifty percent complete, whereas a status bar 1130indicates that it is expected that the work order would be seventy fivepercent complete. The alert message 1100 may be triggered if the actualprogress falls behind the expected progress by a configured thresholdpercentage, such as twenty five percent. A details area 1140 describesthat forty five minutes have elapsed since the start of the work order,that the average time to complete the remaining portion of the workorder is thirty minutes, and that the estimated time to complete theremaining portion of the work order at the current rate is forty fiveminutes. The details area 1140 also indicates that the next appointmentfor “technician three” begins in forty five minutes.

As another example, an alert message such as the alert message 1200illustrated in FIG. 12 may be sent to the supervisor if it is determinedthat a technician may likely not be on time for the technician's nextscheduled appointment. The alert message 1200 includes a title 1210indicating that “technician two” is likely to miss the next appointment.A status bar 1220 indicates that the current work order is fifty percentcomplete, matching the expected progress of fifty percent indicated by astatus bar 1230. Although the technician's progress matches the expectedprogress, the time remaining until the next scheduled appointment is, inthis example, less than the combination of the time remaining tocomplete the current work order and the travel time to the nextscheduled appointment. For example, travel time may now be more thanearlier expected due to a detected traffic delay along the route to thenext appointment. As described in a details area 1240, the estimatedtime to complete the current work order at the current rate is fortyfive minutes and the estimated travel time to the next appointment istwenty minutes. A total of sixty five minutes may be computed by addingthe work time remaining and travel time. The sixty-five-minute total ismore than the fifty-minute time remaining until the start of the nextappointment.

FIG. 13 illustrates another example of an alert message 1300 that asupervisor may receive. The alert message 1300 includes a title 1310indicating that a complaint has been detected for a work order beingcompleted by “technician five”. A complaint details area 1320 indicatesthat “technician five” arrived late and is also taking a long time tocomplete the work order. An expanded details area 1330 describes thatthe elapsed time of forty five minutes exceeds an average time of thirtyminutes and that the technician arrived at 1:15 pm for an appointmentscheduled at 1:00 pm.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example alert message 1400 alerting a supervisorthat the skills and/or experience of a technician assigned to a workorder are missing or low for the scheduled type of work. A title 1410indicates that “technician seven” is scheduled to perform job “X”, butthat “technician seven” has limited experience performing job “X”, poorpast performance for job “X”, and/or lacks skills desired for performingjob “X”. A details area 1420 describes the general education andlicensure status of “technician seven”, and also any particulareducation, licensure, or experience which specifically qualify atechnician to perform job “X”. The details area 1420 also indicateswhether “technician 7” has previously performed “job X” and whether anyquality issues (e.g., complaints) were recorded.

Returning to FIG. 9, when a message to the supervisor is triggered toalert the supervisor of the detected issue, the supervisor is assistedin taking action to correct the detected issue (970). For instance, inthe example of FIG. 11 where the supervisor has been alerted thatprogress of “technician 3” is behind schedule, the supervisor mayinteract with controls on the alert message 1100 to take action tocorrect the detected issue. For example, the supervisor may select acontrol 1150 to view additional details about the work order or mayselect a control 1160 to view details about “technician 3”. Theadditional details may provide more information related to the detectedissue and may assist the supervisor in determining how to handle theissue. In some implementations, the supervisor may initiate the sendingof help (e.g., another technician) by selecting a control 1170. Forexample, if the supervisor activates the control 1170, the supervisor'sdevice triggers an action to identify another technician that isqualified to help and also available to help (e.g., not currentlyscheduled for a work order or nearly complete with a nearby work order).In this example, when another technician is identified, the technicianis scheduled to assist in the work order (e.g., the schedulingapplication updates the identified technician's schedule) and thesupervisor is informed that the identified technician is being sent tohelp. In other examples, the control 1170 may cause the supervisor'sdevice to display a list of available and qualified technicians andallow the supervisor to select a technician to send to help. Based onthe supervisor's selection, the scheduling and dispatching applicationsmay be updated. In some implementations, the supervisor may initiate thesending of help using other means (e.g., a verbal request to adispatcher).

The supervisor may initiate a conversation (e.g., text and/or audio)with “technician three” by selecting a control 1180. For instance, ifthe supervisor activates the control 1180, the supervisor's device mayautomatically place a call to the technician's device to discuss thedetected issue.

The supervisor may specify a desire to personally attend the appointmentby selecting an attend control 1190. The supervisor may desire to attendthe appointment to give personal, on-site assistance to the technician.In response to activation of the control 1190, the supervisor's schedulemay be updated to reflect the appointment, and driving directions andother work order details may be displayed on the supervisor's device.Also, notification of the supervisor's pending arrival may be sent tothe technician and/or the customer.

In the example of FIG. 12 where the supervisor has been alerted that“technician two” is likely to miss (or be late for) the next scheduledappointment, the supervisor may interact with controls 1250-1280 to takecorrective action. Controls 1250 and 1260 may be selected to viewadditional details about the technician or the work order, respectively.The additional details may provide more information related to thedetected issue and may assist the supervisor in determining how tohandle the issue. Control 1270 may be selected to reschedule the nextappointment. Rescheduling the next appointment may involve schedulinganother technician to handle the next appointment or changing the dateand/or time of the appointment. In some implementations, reschedulinginvolves placing a call to a dispatcher and requesting a change to bemade through a dispatch application.

Control 1280 may be selected to communicate (e.g., phone call, email,text message, etc.) with the customer associated with “technician two”'snext appointment. For instance, if the supervisor activates the control1280, the supervisor's device may automatically place a call to thecustomer to enable the supervisor to discuss the situation with thecustomer and handle the situation based on preference of the customer.By alerting the supervisor and allowing the supervisor to handle thescheduling issue, the technician may focus on completing the currentwork order without taking the time to reschedule the next appointment oralert the customer of the next appointment to the delay.

In the example of FIG. 13 where the supervisor has been alerted that acomplaint has been detected for a work order being completed by“technician five”, the supervisor may interact with controls 1340-1380to take corrective action. Controls 1340 and 1350 may be selected toview additional details about the customer or the work order,respectively. The additional details may provide more informationrelated to the detected issue and may assist the supervisor indetermining how to handle the issue. Control 1360 may be selected toauthorize a promotion (e.g., discount) for the customer who initiatedand/or was affected by the complaint. In response to activation of thecontrol 1360, a list of promotions or a custom input screen may bedisplayed to enable the supervisor to input the desired promotion deemedappropriate by the supervisor. A promotion may be identified by thesupervisor or automatically identified by the supervisor's device. Inresponse to identification of the promotion, the supervisor's device maysend a message to the technician's device that indicates the authorizedpromotion and allows the technician to present the promotion to thecustomer. By allowing the supervisor to authorize the promotion at atouch of a button, the supervisor may handle complaints more quickly andwithout the delay caused by communicating with a disgruntled customer.

Control 1370 may be selected to communicate (e.g., phone call, email,text message, etc.) with the customer. Control 1380 may be selected toinitiate a conversation (e.g., text message, email, phone call, etc.)with “technician five”.

In the example of FIG. 14 where the supervisor has been alerted that“technician seven” may not have the required skills and/or experience tocomplete a work order, the supervisor may interact with controls1430-1470 to take corrective action. Controls 1430 and 1440 may beselected to view additional details about the technician or the workorder, respectively. The additional details may provide more informationrelated to the detected issue and may assist the supervisor indetermining how to handle the issue. Control 1450 may be selected toinitiate an action to assist the technician. For example, anothertechnician may be sent to assist “technician seven”, the supervisor maycommunicate (e.g., through text, audio, and/or video) with “technicianseven”, or the supervisor may choose to physically attend theappointment to offer assistance. As another example, the supervisor mayselect control 1460 to send a training or instruction document or manualto “technician seven” (e.g., an electronic document may be sent to atechnician device, and/or a document may be sent to a printer connectedto a technician device (e.g., a printer may be connected to a devicemounted in a technician's vehicle)). The supervisor may select control1470 to reschedule the appointment (e.g., to reschedule using atechnician who is more qualified to perform job “X”).

FIG. 15 illustrates an example system 1500 for controlling schedulingand dispatch operations for multiple, different clients. The system 1500includes a technician control system 1510. The technician control system1510 includes pre-defined work orders and work flows 1511, a standarddocument library 1512, a dispatch application 1513, a mobilityapplication 1514, a supervisor mapping application 1515, and ascheduling application 1516. The technician control system 1510communicates with multiple client systems 1520-1530 over a network 1540.The technician control system 1510 also communicates with multipletechnician devices 1550-1560 over a mobile network 1570. The system 1500implements a “multi-tenant architecture”, where each of the clients1520-1530 is a tenant serviced by the technician control system 1510.

The pre-defined work orders and work flows 1511 include definitions forstandard types of work orders that might be applicable for all or amajority of clients. Pre-defined work flows may define a standard set ofprocessing steps for handling pre-defined types of work orders. Thestandard document library 1512 includes documents that might beapplicable for all or a majority of clients.

The dispatch application 1513 may be used to convey schedule informationto technicians and to manage alerts and reminders related to scheduledappointments. The mobility application 1514 may enable the techniciancontrol system 1510 to communicate with the technician devices1550-1560. The supervisor mapping application 1515 may be used to enablea supervisor to respond to schedule and quality issues that occur in thefield. The scheduling application 1516 may be used to define workschedules for technicians associated with a client.

The technician control system 1510 includes or has access to anelectronic data store 1580 configured to maintain segregated data areasfor each of the multiple clients associated with the multiple clientsystems 1520-1530, control access to the segregated areas usingadmission rights, and store configuration data for each of the multipleclients associated with the multiple client systems 1520-1530. Forexample, segregated data area 1592 includes, for and specific to a firstclient (e.g., client associated with client system 1520), admissionrights data, privileges data, configured work order data, configuredscheduling data, configured supervisor data, and custom documents.Similarly, a second segregated work area 1594 includes admission rightsdata, privileges data, configured work order data, configured schedulingdata, configured supervisor data, and custom documents for a secondclient (e.g., client associated with client system 1530).

The technician control system 1510 is further configured to controlscheduling and dispatch operations for each of the multiple clientsassociated with the multiple client systems 1520-1530 in a configuredmanner that leverages the stored configuration data for each of themultiple, different clients. For example, if a request is received froma technician device, a client associated with the technician device maybe identified from among the multiple clients associated with themultiple client systems 1520-1530. Admission rights of the techniciandevice may be compared to admission rights of the identified client, andin response to a determination that the technician device is authorizedto perform the request, the request may be handled using standard,pre-defined assets and applications based on configurations defined bythe client, and data related to the request may be stored in asegregated data area associated with the identified client.

The technician control system 1510 enables clients to deploy dispatchingand scheduling applications without investing in expensive ITinfrastructure and application development. Clients may purchaseservices offered by the technician control system, for example for amonthly fee. Clients may leverage pre-implemented, proven processes andavoid costly implementation of complex scheduling logic. Pre-definedprocesses can be configured and can adapt based on inputted clientscheduling configuration options.

Each of the technician devices 1550-1560 may be a handheld PC (personalcomputer), wireless handheld device, laptop, smart phone, desktopcomputer, or other device. The network 1540 may be one or more public orprivate, wireless and/or wired networks, such as the Internet or a WAN(wide area network). The mobile network 1570 may be an IP (InternetProtocol) based network, using, for example, technologies such as UMTS(Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), CDMA (Code DivisionMultiple Access), GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), or EVDO(Evolution Data Optimized).

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating a computer-implemented process 1600for segregating data for multiple, different clients. Briefly, thecomputer-implemented process 1600 includes: establishing a particularclient of a control system; defining a segregated data area for theparticular client, the segregated data area being separate from otherdata areas associated with other clients of the control system; settingadmission rights and privileges for the particular client to enableusers associated with the particular client to access the segregateddata area; enabling the particular client to configure standard,pre-defined assets and applications of the control system; and storingconfiguration data for the particular client that reflectsconfigurations to the standard, pre-defined assets and applications madeby the particular client. The operations of the process 1600 may beperformed by one or more components of the system 1500, or one or moreprocessors included in one or more electronic devices.

In further detail, when the process 1600 begins, a particular client ofa control system is established (1610). For example, a particular clientmay commit to being serviced by the control system, and informationrelated to setting up the client may be received from the client, forexample through computer and/or paper-based forms. Data regarding useraccounts, roles and privileges may be gathered, along with configuredwork order data, configured scheduling data, configured supervisor data,and custom documents. In further detail, scheduling configurationoptions which represent various high level scheduling goals may begathered.

After a client is established, a segregated data area for the particularclient is defined (1620), the segregated data area being separate fromother data areas associated with other clients of the control system.For example, a segregated data area within an electronic data store maybe defined and associated with the client. The segregated data area mayrepresent a particular portion of a data storage device (e.g., aparticular range of addresses). The segregated data area may alsoinclude a particular tag or encryption that is used specifically on theclient's data and that is different than tags or encryption used on dataof other clients.

Admission rights and privileges are set for the particular client toenable users associated with the particular client to access thesegregated data area (1630). For example, various user roles may bedefined, such as scheduler, dispatcher, technician supervisor, andtechnician. Users of each role type may be identified, and for eachidentified user, a user account may be established with an associateduser identification, password and role membership. The useridentification, password and role membership may be stored within thesegregated data area associated with the client. The admission rightsand privileges may be used to prevent other client devices or otherexternal users from accessing the data associated with the particularclient. The admission rights and privileges may be tied to hardwareinformation of technician devices used by technicians of the client suchthat only technicians physically possessing a technician deviceassociated with the particular client are able to access the particularclient's data.

The particular client is enabled to configure standard, pre-definedassets and applications of the control system (1640). For example,custom work order types may be defined to represent custom types of workorders associated with the client. For each work order type, applicationinterfaces may be configured or defined to support custom work orderdata entry for the custom work order type. As another example, customdocuments such as manuals and troubleshooting documents may be definedand associated with specific work order types.

As another example, user input weighting one or more schedulingconfiguration options relative to other scheduling configuration optionsmay be received from the client, where each scheduling configurationoption represents a high level goal that the client desires to focus onin scheduling and dispatch operations. Pre-defined applications may beconfigured for the client based on the received scheduling configurationoptions.

Configuration data for the particular client is stored that reflectsconfigurations to the standard, pre-defined assets and applications madeby the particular client (1650). For example, custom parameter andvariable values used in rules associated with a client's selectedconfiguration options may be stored in the segregated data areaassociated with the client.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating a computer-implemented process 1700for controlling scheduling and dispatch operations for multiple,different clients. Briefly, the computer-implemented process 1700includes: receiving a request from a device; identifying, from amongmultiple clients, a client associated with the device; comparingadmission rights and/or privileges of the device to admission rightsand/or privileges of the identified client; determining whether thedevice is authorized to perform requests; denying the request if thedevice is not authorized to perform requests; if the device isauthorized to perform requests, handling the request using standard,pre-defined assets and/or applications based on configurations definedby the identified client; and storing data related to the request in thesegregated data area associated with the identified client. Theoperations of the process 1700 may be performed by one or morecomponents of the system 1500, or one or more processors included in oneor more electronic devices.

In further detail, when the process 1700 begins, a request is receivedfrom a device (1710). For example, a request to mark a work order ascomplete may be received from a technician device.

A client associated with the device is identified, from among multipleclients (1720). For example, a device identifier may be detected withinor in association with the request received from the technician device,and a client identifier may be retrieved from a mapping of deviceidentifiers to client identifiers. The mapping from device identifiersto client identifiers may be retrieved from an electronic data store.

Admission rights and/or privileges of the device are compared toadmission rights and/or privileges of the identified client (1730). Forexample, the request from the technician device may includeauthentication information such as admission rights and/or privileges.The admission rights and/or privileges received from the device may becompared to admission rights and/or privileges retrieved from asegregated data area associated with the identified client.

It is determined whether the device is authorized to perform requests(1740). For example, it may be determined whether the admission rightsand/or privileges of the device are recognized as being associated witha client. If the admission rights and/or privileges of the device arenot associated with a client, it is determined that the device is notauthorized to perform requests. If it is determined that the admissionrights and/or privileges of the device are associated with a client, theprivilege level needed to perform the request may be compared toprivilege level(s) of the device. If a privilege level of the device issufficient to perform the request (e.g., a privilege level of the devicemay be equal to or higher than the minimum needed privilege level, or aprivilege level of the device may match or include a defined role whichauthorizes the request) then it is determined that the device isauthorized to perform the request. If the privileges of the device arenot sufficient to perform the request, it is determined that the deviceis not authorized to perform the request.

If the device is not authorized to perform requests, then the request isdenied (1750). For example, the request may be ignored, or a denialmessage may be sent to the device.

If the device is authorized to perform requests, the request is handledusing standard, pre-defined assets and/or applications based onconfigurations defined by the identified client (1760). For example,data related to client configurations may be retrieved from a segregateddata area associated with the client. Application execution may beadapted based on the retrieved configured data.

Data related to the request is stored in the segregated data areaassociated with the identified client (1770). For example, a statusvalue may be stored in the segregated data area associated with theidentified client, to indicate that a work order is now complete.

FIG. 18 illustrates an example system 1800 with pre-integrated workorder and work flow data. The system 1800 illustrates an example of thesystem 1500 in which the pre-defined work orders and work flows 1511stored in the technician control system 1510 include pre-defined workorders and work flows in each of multiple, different industries.

For instance, as shown, the pre-defined work orders and work flows 1511include pre-defined cable industry work orders and work flows 1810,pre-defined gas industry work orders and work flows 1820, andpre-defined utility industry work orders and work flows 1830. Thepre-defined industry work orders and work flows 1810-1830 represent workorders that typically occur in the corresponding industry and typicalwork flows for handling those work orders. Although three sets ofpre-defined industry work orders and work flows 1810-1830 are shown inFIG. 18, more or fewer sets of pre-defined industry work orders and workflows may be defined and leveraged.

In some implementations, the pre-defined industry work orders and workflows 1810-1830 are defined based on user input from experts in thecorresponding industries and are defined to generally apply to anycompany operating in the corresponding industry. In theseimplementations, a company that manages technicians operating in anindustry for which work orders and work flows have been pre-defined canbegin using the technician control system 1510 in a relatively shortperiod of time by leveraging the pre-defined work orders and work flows.Because the works orders and work flows generally apply to any companyoperating in the corresponding industry, the company may be able toconfigure (e.g., define modifications for) the pre-defined work ordersand work flows to meet company-specific requirements. Techniquesdescribed above with respect to FIGS. 15 and 16 may be used to enableclient configuration of the pre-defined work orders and work flows.Leveraging the pre-defined work orders and work flows, even withsubstantial configuration, may offer a significant time saving in termsof beginning use of the technician control system.

The pre-defined industry work orders 1810-1830 define types of workorders performed in an industry and other information needed to completethe work orders. For instance, the pre-defined industry work orders1810-1830 may include, for each work order, work order data thatidentifies the work order, that defines data needed to becollected/entered by a technician in handling the work order, and thatdefines graphical user interface displays (e.g., skins) displayed ontechnician devices to facilitate handling of the work order by atechnician. In one example, an install new cable hookup work order inthe cable industry defines data needed to be collected when installing anew cable hookup (e.g., identification number of cable box used, etc.).In another example, a replace meter work order in the utility industrydefines data needed to be collected in replacing a meter (e.g.,condition of replaced meter, etc.).

The pre-defined industry work flows 1810-1830 define operations andprocessing flow for handling the work orders defined in the work orderdata. For instance, the pre-defined industry work flows 1810-1830 mayinclude, for each work order, work flow data that identifies the workorder, that defines operations needed to complete the work order, andthat defines an order in which the operations need to be performed. Inone example, a replace meter work flow in the utility industry definesoperations needed to be performed by a technician in replacing a meterand the order in which those operations are performed (e.g., take meterreading from old meter, remove old meter, enter details of removedmeter, install new meter with zeroed reading, and take meter readingfrom new meter). For operations defined in the work flow data for a workorder, the corresponding work order data is used to determine what dataneeds to be collected in performing the work order and to generategraphical user interfaces displayed on a technician device duringcompletion of the work order.

In the example shown in FIG. 18, four client companies 1840-1870leverage the pre-defined industry work orders and work flows 1810-1830.The four client companies 1840-1870 include a first cable company 1840,a second cable company 1850, a utility and gas company 1860, and autility company 1870. Each of the client companies includes a clientsystem (e.g., similar to systems 1520 and 1530 shown in FIG. 15) andmultiple technician devices used by technicians managed by the company(e.g., similar to technician devices 1550 and 1560 shown in FIG. 15).Although four client companies 1840-1870 are shown in FIG. 18, more orfewer client companies may use the technician control system 1510 andleverage the pre-defined industry work orders and work flows 1810-1830.

In processing work orders, technician devices associated with the firstcable company 1840 leverage the pre-defined cable industry work ordersand work flows 1810. For instance, the technician devices associatedwith the first cable company 1840 send work order related requests tothe technician control system 1510 and the technician control system1510 handles the work order related requests using the pre-defined cableindustry work orders and work flows 1810.

In some examples, the technician control system 1510 may send data thatis based on the pre-defined cable industry work orders and work flows1810 to the technician devices associated with the first cable company1840. The technician devices associated with the first cable company1840 may store the data and use the stored data in handling work orders.

Technician devices associated with the second cable company 1850 alsoleverage the pre-defined cable industry work orders and work flows 1810in processing work orders. Because the second cable company 1850 is inthe same industry as the first cable company 1840, the second cablecompany 1850 leverages the same pre-defined work order data and workflow data as the first cable company 1840. Accordingly, work orderprocessing for the first cable company 1840 and the second cable company1850 may be the same.

As discussed above, in some implementations, each of the first cablecompany 1840 and the second cable company 1850 define configurations(e.g., modifications) to the pre-defined cable industry work orders andwork flows 1810 such that work order processing for the first cablecompany 1840 and the second cable company 1850 differs. In theseimplementations, although configurations are made, the underlyingpre-defined cable industry work orders and work flows 1810 are used as abasis on which work order processing for the first cable company 1840and the second cable company 1850 is handled.

Technician devices associated with the utility and gas company 1860leverage both the pre-defined gas industry work orders and work flows1820 and the pre-defined utility industry work orders and work flows1830 in processing work orders. Because the utility and gas company 1860manages technicians in both the gas industry and the utility industry,technicians associated with the utility and gas company 1860 use thepre-defined data for both industries. For example, the utility and gascompany 1860 manages a first technician that services the gas industryand a second technician that services the utility industry. In thisexample, requests associated with a first technician device used by thefirst technician are handled using the pre-defined gas industry workorders and work flows 1820 and requests associated with a secondtechnician device used by the second technician are handled using thepre-defined utility industry work orders and work flows 1830. When arequest is being processed, the technician control system 1510 maydetermine the industry associated with the technician device handlingthe work order and use the pre-defined work order data and work flowdata that corresponds to the determined industry.

In another example, the utility and gas company 1860 manages atechnician that services both the gas industry and the utility industry.In this example, a technician device used by the technician leveragesboth the pre-defined gas industry work orders and work flows 1820 andthe pre-defined utility industry work orders and work flows 1830. When arequest is being processed, the technician control system 1510determines the industry associated with the request and uses thepre-defined work order data and work flow data that corresponds to thedetermined industry.

Technician devices associated with the utility company 1870 leverage thepre-defined utility industry work orders and work flows 1830 inprocessing work orders. Because the utility company 1870 is in the sameindustry as a portion of the utility and gas company 1860, the utilitycompany 1870 leverages a portion of the pre-defined work order data andwork flow data that is used by the utility and gas company 1860.Accordingly, work order processing for the utility company 1870 and theutility and gas company 1860 may be the same for utility work orders. Ofcourse, either or both of the utility and gas company 1860 and theutility company 1870 may make configurations to the pre-defined utilityindustry work orders and work flows 1830 such that work order processingfor utility work orders differs. Although configurations may be made,the underlying pre-defined utility industry work orders and work flows1830 are used as a basis on which utility work order processing for theutility and gas company 1860 and the utility company 1870 is handled.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart illustrating a computer-implemented process 1900for processing work orders for technicians in each of multiple,different industries. Briefly, the computer-implemented process 1900includes: defining work order data for work orders corresponding to eachof multiple, different industries; defining work flow data for the workorders corresponding to each of the multiple, different industries;pre-configuring the technician control system to leverage the definedwork order data and the defined work flow data in performing work orderprocessing for technicians in the multiple, different industries; andprocessing work orders for technicians in the multiple, differentindustries using the defined work order data and the defined work flowdata. The operations of the process 1900 may be performed by one or morecomponents of the system 1500 or 1800, or one or more processorsincluded in one or more electronic devices.

In further detail, when the process 1900 begins, work order data forwork orders corresponding to each of multiple, different industries isdefined (1910). The work order data is defined in electronic storage ofa technician control system based on user input. For example, industryexperts associated with the technician control system may develop workorder data for a particular industry based on past experience andexpertise. In this example, the technician control system receives inputdescribing the developed work order data for the particular industry anddefines work order data in electronic storage based on the receivedinput. By using the technician control system, client companies that areunrelated to the industry experts may leverage the work order data thathas been pre-defined by the industry experts.

The work order data includes information identifying work orders thatoccur in the particular industry. For each work order, the work orderdata may include information that describes data (if any) needed to becollected/entered by a technician in handling the work order. The workorder data also may define graphical user interface displays (e.g.,skins) that are to be displayed on technician devices when a technicianis handling work orders. The graphical user interface displays (e.g.,skins) may include a combination of work order specific graphical userinterface displays (e.g., skins) and industry specific graphical userinterface displays (e.g., skins) that apply to more than one work order(e.g., all work orders). The technician control system receives inputfor each of multiple, different industries and defines work order datain electronic storage for each of the multiple, different industries.

Work flow data for the work orders corresponding to each of themultiple, different industries also is defined (1920). The work flowdata is defined in electronic storage of a technician control systembased on user input. The work flow data may be defined using techniquessimilar to those discussed above at reference numeral 1910 with respectto the work order data.

The work flow data includes information defining operations andprocessing flow for handling the work orders defined in the work orderdata. For instance, the work flow data may include, for each work order,information that describes operations needed to complete the work orderand an order in which the operations need to be performed. Thetechnician control system and/or the technician devices use the workflow data to control process flow and selection of which interfaces aredisplayed to technicians handling work orders.

A technician control system is pre-configured to leverage the definedwork order data and the defined work flow data in performing work orderprocessing for technicians in the multiple, different industries (1930).For instance, processing components of the technician control system areconfigured to leverage the defined work order data and the defined workflow data based on an industry of a client or an industry of atechnician of a client. In this regard, a client may begin using thetechnician control system in a relatively short period of time byidentifying an industry of the client or its technicians.

Work orders for technicians in the multiple, different industries areprocessed using the defined work order data and the defined work flowdata (1940). For instance, user interface display and data collection iscontrolled for technician devices using the defined work order data andwork flow processing for the technician devices is controlled using thedefined work flow data. In some examples, the technician control systemand a technician device exchange communications related to a work order,the technician control system accesses the defined work order data andthe defined work flow data appropriate for the work order, and thetechnician control system sends communications to the technician devicethat control the technician device in accordance with the defined workorder data and the defined work flow data. In other examples, thetechnician control system sends the defined work order data and thedefined work flow data to technician devices to enable the techniciandevices to process work orders locally without having to communicatewith the technician control system.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating a computer-implemented process 2000for configuring a technician control system to leverage pre-defined workorder and work flow data for clients that operate in differentindustries. Briefly, the computer-implemented process 2000 includes:establishing a first client in a first industry for a technician controlsystem and a second client in a second industry for the techniciancontrol system; determining the first industry associated with the firstclient and the second industry associated with the second client;configuring the technician control system to leverage pre-defined workorder and work flow data associated with the first industry for thefirst client; and configuring the technician control system to leveragepre-defined work order and work flow data associated with the secondindustry for the second client. The operations of the process 2000 maybe performed by one or more components of the system 1500 or 1800, orone or more processors included in one or more electronic devices.

In further detail, when the process 2000 begins, a first client in afirst industry and a second client in a second industry are establishedfor a technician control system (2010). For example, a particular clientmay commit to being serviced by the control system, and informationrelated to setting up the client may be received from the client, forexample through computer and/or paper-based forms. Data regardingindustry and technicians may be gathered, along with neededconfigurations to pre-defined work order and work flow data. Manyclients in each of many, different industries may be established.

The first industry associated with the first client and the secondindustry associated with the second client is determined (2020). Forinstance, the industry of each of the clients may be determined based oninformation or input received from the clients.

The technician control system is configured to leverage pre-defined workorder and work flow data associated with the first industry for thefirst client (2030). For example, processing components of thetechnician control system are configured to leverage work order data andwork flow data that was defined in the technician control system for thefirst industry prior to establishment of the first client. In thisexample, the technician control system may store data that causes thetechnician control system to use the pre-defined work order and workflow data associated with the first industry for work order requestsrelated to technicians managed by the first client. In someimplementations, the processing components of the technician controlsystem are configured to leverage the pre-defined work order data andwork flow data based on configurations to the pre-defined work order andwork flow data specified by the first client.

The technician control system is configured to leverage pre-defined workorder and work flow data associated with the second industry for thesecond client (2040). For example, processing components of thetechnician control system are configured to leverage work order data andwork flow data that was defined in the technician control system for thesecond industry prior to establishment of the second client. In thisexample, the technician control system may store data that causes thetechnician control system to use the pre-defined work order and workflow data associated with the second industry for work order requestsrelated to technicians managed by the second client. In someimplementations, the processing components of the technician controlsystem are configured to leverage the pre-defined work order data andwork flow data based on configurations to the pre-defined work order andwork flow data specified by the second client.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating a computer-implemented process 2100for configuring a technician control system to leverage pre-defined workorder and work flow data for clients that operate in differentindustries. Briefly, the computer-implemented process 2100 includes:receiving a request associated with a work order from a techniciandevice; accessing pre-defined work order data and work flow data relatedto handling the work order based on an industry of the techniciandevice; controlling user interface display and data collection relatedto the work order based on the work order data; and controllingprocessing flow related to handling the work order based on the workflow data. The operations of the process 2100 may be performed by one ormore components of the system 1500 or 1800, or one or more processorsincluded in one or more electronic devices.

In further detail, when the process 2100 begins, a request associatedwith a work order is received from a technician device (2110). Forexample, a request to start a work order may be received from atechnician device.

Pre-defined work order data and work flow data related to handling thework order is accessed based on an industry of the technician device(2120). For instance, pre-defined work order data and work flow data forthe industry associated with the work order is accessed from electronicstorage. In some implementations, the technician control system maydetermine, from among multiple, different industries, an industryassociated with the technician device and access, from at least oneelectronic data store, pre-defined work order data and work flow datafor the determined industry. In these implementations, the techniciancontrol system may determine the industry of the technician device byanalyzing the work order related to the request or by accessing datafrom storage (or communications received from the technician device)that indicates the industry of the technician device.

In other implementations, the technician control system may identify,from among multiple clients, a client associated with the techniciandevice and access, from at least one electronic data store, pre-definedwork order data and work flow data for which the technician controlsystem has been configured to leverage for the identified client. Inthese implementations, upon establishment of the client, the techniciancontrol system may have been configured to leverage work order data andwork flow data associated with the industry of the client for alltechnician devices managed by the client.

User interface display and data collection related to the work order iscontrolled based on the work order data (2130). For instance, as atechnician is completing a work order using a technician device,graphical user interfaces displayed at each step in completing the workorder are generated based on the work order data. The graphical userinterfaces are generated by accessing work order data that includesformatting definitions (e.g., skins) associated with the work order anddata collection definitions associated with the work order. Aestheticappearance of the graphical user interfaces is generated based on theformatting definitions (e.g., skins) and data entry controls/fields aregenerated based on the data collection definitions.

Processing flow related to handling the work order is controlled basedon the work flow data (2140). For instance, as a technician iscompleting a work order using a technician device, a flow of thegraphical user interfaces displayed (or other actions) is controlledusing the work flow data. The work flow data may define steps needed tocomplete the work order and an order in which the steps are to beperformed. The work flow data may be used to display a graphical userinterface defined for a step of the work order currently being completedby the technician and then, when the step is completed, used to select anext graphical user interface defined for the next step of the workorder.

FIG. 22 illustrates an example work flow. The example work flow relatesto a service work order in the cable industry. As shown, when a workorder request is initiated 2205, the technician control systemdetermines whether the work order request is a residential request 2210or a commercial request 2215. For a residential request 2210, thetechnician control system determines whether the work order request isfor phone 2220 or video 2225. Similarly, for a commercial request 2215,the technician control system determines whether the work order requestis for phone 2230 or video 2235.

Next, the technician control system determines whether the work orderrequest is an install work order, a downgrade work order, a disconnectwork order, a reconnect work order, a restart work order, an upgradework order, or a change of service work order. Based on thedeterminations that more specifically identify the type of the workorder request, the technician control system accesses the work orderdata (e.g., 2240-2270) related to the specific type of request andhandles the work order request based on the accessed work order data.For instance, when the work order request is an install work order, thetechnician control system accesses the install work order data 2240.When the work order request is a downgrade work order, the techniciancontrol system accesses the downgrade work order data 2245. Further,when the work order request is an disconnect work order, the techniciancontrol system accesses the disconnect work order data 2250.

In addition, when the work order request is a reconnect work order, thetechnician control system accesses the reconnect work order data 2255.When the work order request is a restart work order, the techniciancontrol system accesses the restart work order data 2260. When the workorder request is an upgrade work order, the technician control systemaccesses the upgrade work order data 2265. When the work order requestis a change of service work order, the technician control systemaccesses the change of service work order data 2270. The techniciancontrol system then handles the work order using the accessed work orderdata.

FIG. 23 is a schematic diagram of an example of a generic computersystem 2300. The system 2300 includes a processor 2310, a memory 2320, astorage device 2330, and an input/output device 2340. Each of thecomponents 2310, 2320, 2330, and 2340 are interconnected using a systembus 2350. The processor 2310 is capable of processing instructions forexecution within the system 2300. In one implementation, the processor2310 is a single-threaded processor. In another implementation, theprocessor 2310 is a multi-threaded processor. The processor 2310 iscapable of processing instructions stored in the memory 2320 or on thestorage device 2330 to display graphical information for a userinterface on the input/output device 2340.

The memory 2320 stores information within the system 2300. In oneimplementation, the memory 2320 is a computer-readable medium. Inanother implementation, the memory 2320 is a volatile memory unit. Inyet another implementation, the memory 2320 is a non-volatile memoryunit.

The storage device 2330 is capable of providing mass storage for thesystem 2300. In one implementation, the storage device 2330 is acomputer-readable medium. In various different implementations, thestorage device 2330 may be a floppy disk device, a hard disk device, anoptical disk device, or a tape device.

The input/output device 2340 provides input/output operations for thesystem 2300. In one implementation, the input/output device 2340includes a keyboard and/or pointing device. In another implementation,the input/output device 2340 includes a display unit for displayinggraphical user interfaces.

The features described can be implemented in digital electroniccircuitry, or in computer hardware, or in combinations of computerhardware and firmware or software. The apparatus can be implemented in acomputer program product tangibly embodied in a machine-readable storagedevice, for execution by a programmable processor; and method steps canbe performed by a programmable processor executing a program ofinstructions to perform functions of the described implementations byoperating on input data and generating output. The described featurescan be implemented advantageously in one or more computer programs thatare executable on a programmable system including at least oneprogrammable processor coupled to receive data and instructions from,and to transmit data and instructions to, a data storage system, atleast one input device, and at least one output device. A computerprogram is a set of instructions that can be used, directly orindirectly, in a computer to perform a certain activity or bring about acertain result. A computer program can be written in any form ofprogramming language, including compiled or interpreted languages, andit can be deployed in any form, including as a stand-alone program or asa module, component, subroutine, or other unit suitable for use in acomputing environment.

Suitable processors for the execution of a program of instructionsinclude, by way of example, both general and special purposemicroprocessors, and the sole processor or one of multiple processors ofany kind of computer. Generally, a processor will receive instructionsand data from a read-only memory or a random access memory or both. Theessential elements of a computer are a processor for executinginstructions and one or more memories for storing instructions and data.Generally, a computer will also include, or be operatively coupled tocommunicate with, one or more mass storage devices for storing datafiles; such devices include magnetic disks, such as internal hard disksand removable disks; magneto-optical disks; and optical disks. Storagedevices suitable for tangibly embodying computer program instructionsand data include all forms of non-volatile memory, including by way ofexample semiconductor memory devices, such as EPROM, EEPROM, and flashmemory devices; magnetic disks such as internal hard disks and removabledisks; magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks. Theprocessor and the memory can be supplemented by, or incorporated in,ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits).

To provide for interaction with a user, the features can be implementedon a computer having a display device such as a CRT (cathode ray tube)or LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor for displaying information tothe user and a keyboard and a pointing device such as a mouse or atrackball by which the user can provide input to the computer.

The features can be implemented in a computer system that includes aback-end component, such as a data server, or that includes a middlewarecomponent, such as an application server or an Internet server, or thatincludes a front-end component, such as a client computer having agraphical user interface or an Internet browser, or any combination ofthem. The components of the system can be connected by any form ormedium of digital data communication such as a communication network.Examples of communication networks include, e.g., a LAN, a WAN, and thecomputers and networks forming the Internet.

The computer system can include clients and servers. A client and serverare generally remote from each other and typically interact through anetwork, such as the described one. The relationship of client andserver arises by virtue of computer programs running on the respectivecomputers and having a client-server relationship to each other.

A number of implementations have been described. Nevertheless, it willbe understood that various modifications may be made without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, otherimplementations are within the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A technician control system comprising: a controlsystem configured to control scheduling and dispatch operations for workorders being handled by technicians associated with a client; at leastone electronic data store configured to store data associated with theclient; and multiple technician devices that are each associated withone or more technicians, configured to communicate, over a network, withthe control system, and configured to provide output in response tocommunications that are received from the control system and that arerelated to the scheduling and dispatch operations performed by thecontrol system, wherein the control system is configured to controlsupervisor mapping operations for work orders being handled bytechnicians associated with the client and includes at least oneprocessor configured to perform operations comprising: identifyingtechnicians supervised by a particular supervisor that uses a particulardevice; determining progress of scheduled work orders for each of theidentified technicians; enabling the supervisor to view data reflectingthe determined progress of scheduled work orders; monitoring progress ofthe scheduled work orders for each of the identified technicians; basedon the monitoring, detecting whether a schedule or quality issue occursin the scheduled work orders for each of the identified technicians; andin response to detecting that a schedule or quality issue has occurredin at least one of the scheduled work orders being handled by at leastone of the identified technicians: sending, to the particular deviceused by the particular supervisor, a message to alert the supervisor ofthe detected issue; and assisting the supervisor in taking action tocorrect the detected issue.
 2. The technician control system of claim 1:wherein detecting whether a schedule or quality issue occurs in thescheduled work orders for each of the identified technicians comprises:comparing progress of a particular work order being handled by aparticular technician to an expected progress for the particular workorder; based on the comparison, determining whether the progress of theparticular work order being handled by the particular technician isbehind the expected progress by more than a threshold amount; detectingan issue in response to a determination that the progress of theparticular work order being handled by the particular technician isbehind the expected progress by more than the threshold amount; anddetecting that an issue does not exist in response to a determinationthat the progress of the particular work order being handled by theparticular technician is not behind the expected progress by more thanthe threshold amount; wherein sending, to the particular device used bythe particular supervisor, the message to alert the supervisor of thedetected issue comprises sending a message that indicates that theparticular technician is behind schedule in performing the particularwork order, that provides an indication of the progress of theparticular work order being handled by the particular technician, andthat provides an indication of the expected progress; and whereinassisting the supervisor in taking action to correct the detected issuecomprises: enabling the supervisor to respond to the message bycommunicating with the particular technician; enabling the supervisor torespond to the message by receiving directions to attend the particularwork order; and enabling the supervisor to respond to the message bysending another technician to assist the particular technician with theparticular work order.
 3. The technician control system of claim 1:wherein detecting whether a schedule or quality issue occurs in thescheduled work orders for each of the identified technicians comprises:determining an expected amount of time remaining for a particulartechnician to complete a particular work order being handled by theparticular technician; determining a travel time between a location ofthe particular work order and a location of a next work order scheduledfor completion by the particular technician; identifying a scheduledstart time of the next work order scheduled for completion by theparticular technician; analyzing the expected amount of time remainingfor the particular technician to complete the particular work order andthe determined travel time with respect to the scheduled start time ofthe next work order; based on the analysis, determining whether theparticular technician is likely to miss the scheduled start time of thenext work order; detecting an issue in response to a determination thatthe particular technician is likely to miss the scheduled start time ofthe next work order; and detecting that an issue does not exist inresponse to a determination that the particular technician is not likelyto miss the scheduled start time of the next work order; whereinsending, to the particular device used by the particular supervisor, themessage to alert the supervisor of the detected issue comprises sendinga message that indicates that the particular technician is likely tomiss the scheduled start time of the next work order, that provides anindication of the expected amount of time remaining for the particulartechnician to complete the particular work order, that provides anindication of the determined travel time, and that provides anindication of the scheduled start time of the next work order; andwherein assisting the supervisor in taking action to correct thedetected issue comprises: enabling the supervisor to respond to themessage by rescheduling the next work order for the particulartechnician; and enabling the supervisor to respond to the message bycommunicating with a customer corresponding to the next work order. 4.The technician control system of claim 1 wherein: the control system isconfigured to control scheduling and dispatch operations for multiple,different clients; the at least one electronic data store is configuredto maintain segregated data areas for each of the multiple, differentclients, control access to the segregated areas using admission rights,and store configuration data for each of the multiple, differentclients; and the control system is further configured to controlscheduling and dispatch operations for each of the multiple, differentclients in a configured manner that leverages the stored configurationdata for each of the multiple, different clients.
 5. The techniciancontrol system of claim 4 wherein the at least one processor isconfigured to perform operations further comprising: establishing aparticular client; defining, in the at least one electronic data store,a segregated data area for the particular client, the segregated dataarea being separate from other data areas associated with other clientsof the control system; setting admission rights and privileges for theparticular client to enable users associated with the particular clientto access the segregated data area; enabling the particular client toconfigure standard, pre-defined assets and applications of the controlsystem; and storing configuration data for the particular client thatreflects configurations to the standard, pre-defined assets andapplications made by the particular client.
 6. The technician controlsystem of claim 4 wherein the at least one processor is configured toperform operations further comprising: receiving a request from atechnician device; identifying, from among the multiple, differentclients, a client associated with the technician device; comparingadmission rights of the technician device to admission rights of theidentified client; based on the comparison, determining whether thetechnician device is authorized to perform the request; in response to adetermination that the technician device is not authorized to performthe request, denying the request; and in response to a determinationthat the technician device is authorized to perform the request:handling the request using standard, pre-defined assets and applicationsbased on configurations defined by the identified client; and storingdata related to the request in a segregated data area associated withthe identified client.
 7. The technician control system of claim 1wherein the at least one processor is configured to perform operationsfurther comprising: receiving a request associated with a work orderfrom a technician device; accessing, from the at least one electronicdata store, pre-defined work order data and work flow data related tohandling the work order based on an industry associated with thetechnician device; controlling user interface display on the techniciandevice and data collection on the technician device related to the workorder based on the accessed work order data; and controlling processingflow related to handling the work order on the technician device basedon the accessed work flow data.
 8. The technician control system ofclaim 7 wherein accessing, from the at least one electronic data store,pre-defined work order data and work flow data related to handling thework order based on the industry associated with the technician devicecomprises: determining, from among the multiple, different industries,the industry associated with the technician device; and accessing, fromthe at least one electronic data store, pre-defined work order data andwork flow data for the determined industry.
 9. The technician controlsystem of claim 7 wherein accessing, from the at least one electronicdata store, pre-defined work order data and work flow data related tohandling the work order based on the industry associated with thetechnician device comprises: identifying, from among multiple clients, aclient associated with the technician device; and accessing, from the atleast one electronic data store, pre-defined work order data and workflow data for which the technician control system has been configured toleverage for the identified client.
 10. A computer-implemented methodcomprising: identifying, at a control system, technicians supervised bya particular supervisor that uses a particular device; determining,using at least one processor of the control system, progress ofscheduled work orders for each of the identified technicians; enablingthe supervisor to view data reflecting the determined progress ofscheduled work orders; monitoring progress of the scheduled work ordersfor each of the identified technicians; based on the monitoring,detecting whether a schedule or quality issue occurs in the scheduledwork orders for each of the identified technicians; and in response todetecting that a schedule or quality issue has occurred in at least oneof the scheduled work orders being handled by at least one of theidentified technicians: sending, to the particular device used by theparticular supervisor, a message to alert the supervisor of the detectedissue; and assisting the supervisor in taking action to correct thedetected issue.
 11. The method of claim 10: wherein detecting whether aschedule or quality issue occurs in the scheduled work orders for eachof the identified technicians comprises: comparing progress of aparticular work order being handled by a particular technician to anexpected progress for the particular work order; based on thecomparison, determining whether the progress of the particular workorder being handled by the particular technician is behind the expectedprogress by more than a threshold amount; detecting an issue in responseto a determination that the progress of the particular work order beinghandled by the particular technician is behind the expected progress bymore than the threshold amount; and detecting that an issue does notexist in response to a determination that the progress of the particularwork order being handled by the particular technician is not behind theexpected progress by more than the threshold amount; wherein sending, tothe particular device used by the particular supervisor, the message toalert the supervisor of the detected issue comprises sending a messagethat indicates that the particular technician is behind schedule inperforming the particular work order, that provides an indication of theprogress of the particular work order being handled by the particulartechnician, and that provides an indication of the expected progress;and wherein assisting the supervisor in taking action to correct thedetected issue comprises: enabling the supervisor to respond to themessage by communicating with the particular technician; enabling thesupervisor to respond to the message by receiving directions to attendthe particular work order; and enabling the supervisor to respond to themessage by sending another technician to assist the particulartechnician with the particular work order.
 12. The method of claim 10:wherein detecting whether a schedule or quality issue occurs in thescheduled work orders for each of the identified technicians comprises:determining an expected amount of time remaining for a particulartechnician to complete a particular work order being handled by theparticular technician; determining a travel time between a location ofthe particular work order and a location of a next work order scheduledfor completion by the particular technician; identifying a scheduledstart time of the next work order scheduled for completion by theparticular technician; analyzing the expected amount of time remainingfor the particular technician to complete the particular work order andthe determined travel time with respect to the scheduled start time ofthe next work order; based on the analysis, determining whether theparticular technician is likely to miss the scheduled start time of thenext work order; detecting an issue in response to a determination thatthe particular technician is likely to miss the scheduled start time ofthe next work order; and detecting that an issue does not exist inresponse to a determination that the particular technician is not likelyto miss the scheduled start time of the next work order; whereinsending, to the particular device used by the particular supervisor, themessage to alert the supervisor of the detected issue comprises sendinga message that indicates that the particular technician is likely tomiss the scheduled start time of the next work order, that provides anindication of the expected amount of time remaining for the particulartechnician to complete the particular work order, that provides anindication of the determined travel time, and that provides anindication of the scheduled start time of the next work order; andwherein assisting the supervisor in taking action to correct thedetected issue comprises: enabling the supervisor to respond to themessage by rescheduling the next work order for the particulartechnician; and enabling the supervisor to respond to the message bycommunicating with a customer corresponding to the next work order. 13.The method of claim 10 further comprising: controlling, using the atleast one processor of the control system, scheduling and dispatchoperations for multiple, different clients; maintaining segregated dataareas for each of the multiple, different clients; controlling access tothe segregated areas using admission rights; storing configuration datafor each of the multiple, different clients; and controlling schedulingand dispatch operations for each of the multiple, different clients in aconfigured manner that leverages the stored configuration data for eachof the multiple, different clients.
 14. The method of claim 13 furthercomprising: establishing a particular client; defining, in at least oneelectronic data store, a segregated data area for the particular client,the segregated data area being separate from other data areas associatedwith other clients of the control system; setting admission rights andprivileges for the particular client to enable users associated with theparticular client to access the segregated data area; enabling theparticular client to configure standard, pre-defined assets andapplications of the control system; and storing configuration data forthe particular client that reflects configurations to the standard,pre-defined assets and applications made by the particular client. 15.The method of claim 13 further comprising: receiving a request from atechnician device; identifying, from among the multiple, differentclients, a client associated with the technician device; comparingadmission rights of the technician device to admission rights of theidentified client; based on the comparison, determining whether thetechnician device is authorized to perform the request; in response to adetermination that the technician device is not authorized to performthe request, denying the request; and in response to a determinationthat the technician device is authorized to perform the request:handling the request using standard, pre-defined assets and applicationsbased on configurations defined by the identified client; and storingdata related to the request in a segregated data area associated withthe identified client.
 16. The method of claim 10 further comprising:receiving a request associated with a work order from a techniciandevice; accessing, from at least one electronic data store, pre-definedwork order data and work flow data related to handling the work orderbased on an industry associated with the technician device; controllinguser interface display on the technician device and data collection onthe technician device related to the work order based on the accessedwork order data; and controlling processing flow related to handling thework order on the technician device based on the accessed work flowdata.
 17. The method of claim 16 wherein accessing, from the at leastone electronic data store, pre-defined work order data and work flowdata related to handling the work order based on the industry associatedwith the technician device comprises: determining, from among themultiple, different industries, the industry associated with thetechnician device; and accessing, from the at least one electronic datastore, pre-defined work order data and work flow data for the determinedindustry.
 18. The method of claim 16 wherein accessing, from the atleast one electronic data store, pre-defined work order data and workflow data related to handling the work order based on the industryassociated with the technician device comprises: identifying, from amongmultiple clients, a client associated with the technician device; andaccessing, from the at least one electronic data store, pre-defined workorder data and work flow data for which the technician control systemhas been configured to leverage for the identified client.
 19. At leastone non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded withexecutable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor,cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:identifying technicians supervised by a particular supervisor that usesa particular device; determining progress of scheduled work orders foreach of the identified technicians; enabling the supervisor to view datareflecting the determined progress of scheduled work orders; monitoringprogress of the scheduled work orders for each of the identifiedtechnicians; based on the monitoring, detecting whether a schedule orquality issue occurs in the scheduled work orders for each of theidentified technicians; and in response to detecting that a schedule orquality issue has occurred in at least one of the scheduled work ordersbeing handled by at least one of the identified technicians: sending, tothe particular device used by the particular supervisor, a message toalert the supervisor of the detected issue; and assisting the supervisorin taking action to correct the detected issue.
 20. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 19: wherein detecting whethera schedule or quality issue occurs in the scheduled work orders for eachof the identified technicians comprises: comparing progress of aparticular work order being handled by a particular technician to anexpected progress for the particular work order; based on thecomparison, determining whether the progress of the particular workorder being handled by the particular technician is behind the expectedprogress by more than a threshold amount; detecting an issue in responseto a determination that the progress of the particular work order beinghandled by the particular technician is behind the expected progress bymore than the threshold amount; and detecting that an issue does notexist in response to a determination that the progress of the particularwork order being handled by the particular technician is not behind theexpected progress by more than the threshold amount; wherein sending, tothe particular device used by the particular supervisor, the message toalert the supervisor of the detected issue comprises sending a messagethat indicates that the particular technician is behind schedule inperforming the particular work order, that provides an indication of theprogress of the particular work order being handled by the particulartechnician, and that provides an indication of the expected progress;and wherein assisting the supervisor in taking action to correct thedetected issue comprises: enabling the supervisor to respond to themessage by communicating with the particular technician; enabling thesupervisor to respond to the message by receiving directions to attendthe particular work order; and enabling the supervisor to respond to themessage by sending another technician to assist the particulartechnician with the particular work order.